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.
The Missing Column
How many times have you hidden a column in your MS Project plan that you think you might need in the future or don’t have space for when printing and later forgot about it or forgot where its location was in your plan? Columns can easily be forgotten! You may even insert it a second time without realizing your error, which would be a waste of time and space. Let’s consider a few ways of finding hidden columns, so this doesn’t happen to you. We’ll start with discussing how columns get hidden in the first place. There are two quick ways to conceal a column. The first is to highlight the column heading and right-click, selecting Hide Column. You’d normally do this temporarily for printing purposes (aka to avoid information overload when reporting). Unfortunately, Project doesn’t have an Unhide command like Excel does, so one option is to close your file after printing without saving it or press the Undo arrow to bring back the hidden column. If you accidentally save the file after hiding a column, you will have to insert the same column next time. The second way is to move your cursor to the right edge of a heading’s cell. The pointer changes into a two-headed arrow, at which point you’ll want to drag it past the cell’s left border. The column vanishes! Now, if you happen to remember which columns were to the left and right of the missing column, put your cursor slightly to the right of the middle border line. It will again change into a two-headed arrow. Drag this arrow to the right until you can see the hidden column. These options work, but what are the odds of you remembering where the hidden column is in your plan as time passes? Probably low! Let’s look at an example. Project 1 2 3 includes a highlighted Predecessor column (see Figure 1). I used the process described in the above paragraph to hide the Predecessors column (Figure 2). To find the missing column, we will use the Table Definition dialog boxes. In the View tab’s Data section, click Tables > Save Fields as a New Table. Then enter the name (I usually use the Project file’s name). Then, click OK. In the View tab’s Data section, click Tables > More Tables > (the Table Project 1 2 3 should be highlighted), and then select Edit (Figure 3). You will notice the width for the Predecessor’s field is “0,” and that’s why you don’t see this column in Figure 2. If you increase the cell width (from 0 to 9, for example), then click “OK” and “Apply” in the next More Tables dialog box, you will be back to where you started. Even though the dialog box lists rows, you should keep in mind that they are columns in the table. Remember you have the following command buttons for modifying your table after you highlight a row. Cut Row removes the selected row from the table and temporarily stores it on the Clipboard (the Paste Row button will then be activated). While this removes the field from the table, it does not remove data from the field. Copy Row duplicates the selected row from the table, and temporarily stores it on the Clipboard (the Paste Row button will then be activated). Paste Row uses the Clipboard to insert the last row you cut or copied from the table above the selected row. Insert Row adds a blank row in the table above the selected one. Delete Row is like Cut Row, but it does not use the Clipboard at all. In addition to these commands, you can define the attributes of each field, align data, and assign a title. There are other formatting options at the bottom of the table. As you can see, the Table Definition dialog box is an especially useful tool. Even more useful, the More Tables dialog box lists every table in your global template and existing Project file. You might have a need to set up multiple tables or views for your project plan for the purpose of customizing only the data you want to demonstrate for different groups (for example, executives vs. team members). A quick way of doing this is to click Tables > More Tables > (the Tables name should be highlighted, or you can pick another one). Then, select Copy to make your changes. Replace the name in the Name box (see the top of Figure 3), as needed. To the right of the Name box is the “Show in menu” option. If you check this box, the table will appear in a dropdown “Custom” list when you click Tables in the View tab. When you are done, click OK to save the table and close the Table Definition dialog box. Any comments on how you’ve successfully hidden or unhidden columns would be appreciated.
Avoiding Root Causes of Troubled Projects
Prevention measures should be considered to reduce or contain the root causes of troubled projects, thereby improving project quality, profitability, and customer satisfaction. This article is not intended to be a complete list of problem areas, nor an exhaustive offering of prevention measures. Experience and professional judgement should be applied to each circumstance when determining the appropriate “measures of prevention” for any proposal or project. I’ve divided my list of root causes into two areas: Root Causes from Solution Design and Root Causes from Solution Delivery. I hope will you find my recommended prevention measures useful. Root Causes from Solution Design Customer Expectations Failure to set and manage customer expectations can lead to false beliefs and disputes over scope or responsibilities. Prevention Measures: Be careful when setting customer expectations. Be conservative in describing the project and try to “under promise and over deliver” rather than “over promise and under deliver.” Caution the customer about the challenges of the project. Make sure the customer fully understands and agrees with proposed solutions. Encourage the customer to budget for changes upfront, so they will have the flexibility to address changing requirements during the project without seeking additional funding. At the beginning of a project, document with the customer their expectations and priorities. Once the expectations and priorities are established, the project team should list actions which will be taken to meet those expectations. Make sure the customer fully understands the importance of their involvement and responsibilities in the project. The customer’s full involvement and commitment are essential to the success of a project. The customer should think of themselves as part of a team rather than spectators. Inaccurate Estimates Many projects have been financially doomed from the beginning because of underestimating the effort required to complete a project. Prevention Measures: Utilize experienced project team members to develop or validate the estimates during proposal preparation. Use the most appropriate estimating tools available. Adjust for the learning curve of new development tools and methodologies, systems management efforts, untested HW and SW components, adequate testing and correction periods, and unknown risks. Review Intellectual Capital for similar completed contracts for actual costs. Include subject matter experts and PMs for a bottom-up, or task level, estimate of hours. Failure to Plan for Risk Containment All projects have risks, and they should be understood and planned for prior to beginning a project. Prevention Measures: Utilize technical, peer, and assurance reviews to identify risks and develop containment actions and strategies. Create a Risk Management Plan during the proposal preparation stage. Review the plan with Quality Assurance (QA) and management to ensure that it covers the major risks and has appropriate plans to contain them. Maintain/update the Risk Management Plan throughout the life of the project. Insufficient Test Plans All too often, the time allocated for testing is insufficient and/or doesn’t allow for time to do follow-up testing when the first set of testing points out problems that must be addressed. Prevention Measures: Include a pilot or testing phase in the approved solution and include a provision for subsequent pilot/test period as appropriate. Include the pilot/testing phase in the project plan and share with the customer what the schedule expectations are. If needed, re-baseline the schedule with the customer. A test manager or test expert should be involved during the engagement to validate the viability of the proposed testing plans and schedules. Inaccurate Staffing Plans In many situations the skills thought necessary on a project do not match the skills required to deliver the project. For example, the staffing plan may call for DB2 programmers when it’s C++ programmers that are needed. Also, you might have the people with the right skills, but they are not available when you need them because they are working on other projects. Prevention Measures: Use subject matter experts and PMs to validate estimates and scope. Consider using subcontractors (especially when a specialized skill is to be performed) and check their references. Make it clear that the subcontractors report to the assigned PM. Root Causes from Solution Delivery Ineffective Startup It’s important that the customer be entirely aware of the scope of the project, the project plan, and how the customer personnel will be used as a part of the overall project. Prevention Measures: Hold a customer kickoff meeting to define scope (not to develop WBS), identify the purpose of the project and expected output, identify potential risks and preliminary plans, and present immediate plans for the project. Also, describe what each project team member will be doing in the first several days of the project or until you meet again. Include the customer in the planning session(s) to assist with defining the WBS. Make the project planning session different than the project kickoff meeting. The customer’s staff should also clearly understand their responsibilities Lack of Management Oversight/Support Line management in some cases does not have a good mechanism to track its respective portfolio of projects and therefore, projects often become troubled before they come to the attention of management. Management assistance sometimes comes too late. Prevention Measures: Line management should ensure that a mechanism is in place to closely track the status of all significant projects. Close monitoring of troubled projects by line management should be instituted. PMs should keep line management briefed on a frequent basis about the status of their projects. Ineffective Communications It is critical that PMs have an effective communications plan with the customer, the project team and management. Troubled projects are often the result of simply having no regular status reporting, customer meetings, project team meetings, etc. Prevention Measures: Develop a communications/escalation plan at the beginning of the project. Ensure that regular communications and status reporting occur on a regular basis. Keep the customer advised of the smallest delays or improvements in the schedule on a weekly basis. Failure to Implement/Exercise Proper Change Management Process Many well-intentioned project teams make changes during a project without the formality of change authorizations. This can lead to “scope creep.” Prevention Measures: Stress the importance of adhering to a formal, documented change management process. During the project kick-off meeting, walk through the change management process. Execute the change management process for every change, whether there is a change in cost or price. Otherwise “no cost changes” may lead to overall scope creep that will negatively impact the project later. Starting a Phase Prior to Completing a Preceding Phase Starting a phase before a related preceding phase is completed is a risky decision. Much rework may be required because of work beginning prematurely. It has been proven time and time again this tactic does not work. Prevention Measures: Ensure that the PM plans and executes the project in a manner that does not allow a phase (or task) to start before a dependent predecessor phase has been completed. Ensure that management regularly accesses the status of the project and is aware (by reading status reports and attending status meetings) of any decisions to start a phase before a prior phase has been completed. Continuous/Constant Change in Scope If the customer is continuously making changes in the scope of a project, it usually means they did not have a clear understanding of what they wanted or frequently change their mind about what they want. Constant changes mean frustration for the project team. It can also mean that the PM is spending too much time understanding, documenting, and issuing change authorizations and potentially losing their focus on the actual task of managing the project. Prevention Measures: Be sure to incorporate changes into the WBS and keep the customer constantly advised of the impact of the changes on the schedule, as well as the cost. By doing so, the customer will understand the impact of the excessive changes on the schedule and cost. If changes are too frequent, try to establish a release plan. Unplanned Turnover of Key Project Team Members As a result of unplanned staff turnover, cost and schedule overruns occur because of the delays caused by the time required to locate replacements, make them available to work, and bringing them up to speed. Prevention Measures: Ensure the PM has a “succession plan” in place for key project team members in the event they leave the project for personal or business reasons. This plan should include the identification of potential replacements along with the way a transition of responsibilities from the original person to the replacement might take place. Ensure the PM practices “cross-training,” so that in the event a key project team member leaves the project, an existing peer on the project can at least temporarily handle the responsibilities until a permanent replacement is brought in. Failure to Perform QA Reviews Sometimes quality reviews are not scheduled until the project is in serious trouble. By that time, it is often too late to avoid significant problems. Prevention Measures: Ensure timely reviews by independent QA staff are held. Also, QA can help ensure that the project starts on solid footing. Ensure follow-through on action plans from the timely reviews. Summary I have covered most of the root causes of troubled projects with prevention measures. Hopefully awareness of these root issues and implementation of my suggested measures will help you do a better job in running a project more successfully. At a much higher level, this article was really about QA and what that can do for you. QA is a set of scheduled and systematic activities for each phase of a project that is necessary to ensure a service or product will satisfy the quality standards established by an organization. Your feedback is always welcome.
How to Create and Customize Filters
In MS Project, filtering is a way to see or highlight only the task or resource information that meets the criteria you choose. Filtering does not change any underlying data but changes what data is displayed. You can use filters in two ways. Apply an AutoFilter from a column heading in a table or apply a built-in or custom filter you create to your view. AutoFilter When you have a quick, ad hoc, or simple question, use AutoFilter (think like from within Excel). To display a task-centric or resource-centric view that includes a table, I would recommend using the Gantt Chart or Resource Sheet views. If you click the arrow icon in the column heading that you are interested in, you will see a drop-down menu that covers sorting, grouping, or applying a simple filter based on the data in the column. Filter choices vary depending on the column chosen. Highlight Filters and select the filter you want (i.e., for the Duration column, you could select the 1 day or less) and only the data you’ve selected will be displayed. On most of the filter choices you pick (i.e., Equals or Custom), you will have to insert simple information (i.e., number of days) in a pop-up Custom AutoFilter dialog box which is like a simple version of a filter definition. Then, click OK to display the data you want. After the selected data is displayed, you will notice the arrow icon has turned into a funnel icon. To remove the AutoFilter and get back to your original screen, click the funnel icon and then Clear Filter from [field], which is Duration. Built-In Filters In the View tab’s Data section, click the Filter down arrow, and you will see a drop-down menu that shows about a dozen commonly used Built-In filters (i.e., Late Tasks and Milestones), Clear Filter, New Filter, and More Filters. In total, there are about four dozen built-in filters to choose from. The built-in filters can act as tutorials when you want to create your own custom filter. Custom Filters As mentioned, when you click the Filter down arrow, you will see the New Filter option. I would rarely use this option because I don’t want to start from scratch. Instead, I recommend using More Filters to find an existing regular filter that meets my needs. This is shown in Figure 1. Remember to click Apply. If you are viewing a Resource Sheet, you will see a different set of filters. So, let’s look at different types of tests for tasks you can make. Single Tests compare a field with a particular text string, number, or some other value. See Figure 2 which shows the provided Milestones filter. If you Edit and Save it, use a more descriptive file name. Notice there is a check mark to the right of file name (shown in menu), which means when you use the filters pull-down menu, you will see this filter listed towards the top under Custom. If you un-check this cell, you will be able to find this filter under More Filters. Notice that in the above figure that the pull-down arrow to the right of “equals” is located in the test column. Other tests available in the pull-down-menu are does not equal, is greater than, is greater than or equal to, is less than, is less than or equal to, is within, is not within, contains, does not contain, and contains exactly. We could use does not equal with a No value to get the same result. Multiple Tests, such as using And/Or, are basic operators from Boolean algebra specifying that an item must pass both tests or only one. Let’s look at the second line (and) in Figure 3 from a modified Figure 2. The Test (is within) and the values are 0,99. This means the value must be equal to or between the two values you specify. The second line could have the same meaning by changing the Test to “is less than” and changing the Value to “100.” Also, notice the name changed to Copy of Non-Completed Milestones. Interactive Tests come into play when a filter is used, but you want to filter by a different value each time you use it. Let’s say, I want to know what tasks start on a particular day, so I use a regular filter – Tasks starting this Week. See Figure 4A for the Filter Definition, and notice the value “Enter the start date”? Always make sure the value text is enclosed in double quotes and then a question mark. The question mark after the quotes tells Project that this filter is interactive. If you Apply this filter (refer to Figure 1), you will get a Dialog Box shown in Figure 4B. You can type in the date or use the pull-down arrow to pick the date from Project’s calendar. Click OK to execute and display the results. Comparing Fields can be helpful when you are trying to come up with some useful information on how your project is coming along. In Figure 5, the filter is checking to see if the Finish field is greater than the Baseline Finish field. If it is, then you know the task is slipping and you should check it out. Notice in the Values column you see “NA” which means “not applicable.” Project uses this value to mark some fields that do not yet have a value. Note: Some filters will not have a check mark for “Show in menu” after the file name, but you can check it if you want to show it at the top of the list under “Custom” when you use the filter’s pull-down menu. Overseeing Filters Periodically you will have a need to copy, rename, or delete a filter. If you click the Organizer button (refer to Figure 1 again), you will see a dialog box like the one pictures in Figure 6 open for the Filters tab. Click the filter that you want to change and the required command button to make the change. The two arrows on the Copy button switch direction when you select a filter from your project on the right side. All the other tabs have a similar structure: elements in the global template appear on the left side and the elements that have been used in the active plan appear on the right side. I would recommend you explore the other tabs. If you do, you will soon realize the Organizer is a powerful tool for managing your projects. Another way of finding Organizer is go to the file tab and selecting “info” from the left side of the backstage view. In the area to the right, click the “Organize Global Template” button to open the Organizer dialog box. Summary As you can see, regular filters are a valuable tool and one that will save you a lot of time looking for task or resource information that can be important to running your project. Remember, regular filters hide the details that don’t meet its’ criteria. If you want to see the whole schedule with your filtered choices, you should use the yellow highlight feature by clicking the highlighted down arrow, which is above the Filter down arrow. The Highlight and Filter features offer similar options. For example, if you had 100 tasks and you ran the regular filter for late tasks, you could display 10 tasks that are late. If you ran the highlight filter for late tasks, you would see the entire schedule and the 10 late tasks would be highlighted in yellow. Any related comments would be appreciated.
Who’s in Charge: Obtaining Third Party Services and What Questions to Ask for Success
In my early years as a project manager (PM) for IBM, I worked on several assignments where third party vendor or sub-contractors (usually with a specialized skill to perform) were brought in to work on my project. It always seemed like the lines were blurry on who oversaw them. Looking back, I gave them less attention/visibility than my own project members, which was a rookie mistake on my part and a lesson to be learned. Vendors and sub-contractors assigned to any project need to know who is in charge and should be tracked with the same weekly meeting regularity and concentration as fellow team members. Not paying too much attention to them can threaten the overall success of a project due to poor planning and follow-through. To a certain degree, I fault the principal (the IBMer who managed the client’s account) for not informing me on what was going on with these third-parties when I came aboard to manage the project. The principal was a busy person with many accounts to manage and spending a good amount of time in meetings. Regardless, there should been more of a focus on the agreements made with the vendors and sub-contractors. As I said, there were lessons to be learned! Looking back on this experience, I wish I would have asked the following questions. Ten Questions to Ask Summary Remember what I said in the beginning? It’s worth repeating that vendors and sub-contractors assigned to a project need to know who is in charge. The PM should track their work with the same regularity and concentration as is applied to fellow team members. At the end of every project, get input from all parties and document the lessons learned. Consider the improvements that could be made to improve future processes of hiring and working with third-party vendors. One additional lesson I learned is that when a vendor is selected because they provide the lowest bid, you most often end up in a lose-lose situation. There is an adage about vendors that have the lowest bid: Bid it low, and watch it grow! Sometimes a vendor will shave too much money off their proposal price (hoping to make up this shortfall with change orders) or too many days from a project timeline to secure a job. This is a risky and unrealistic strategy, which eventually guarantees a loss of reputation and future business. When working with third-parties, always be protective of your intellectual property (IP) like proprietary software/tools, so that you don’t lose your competitive position. This could include the processing of sensitive information and technologies that could be a risk to the security of your organization. If the project finishes before the contract dictates and/or ends on a successful note, be sure to thank everyone for doing a good job. You never know, you could end up working with the same people on future projects. It’s always a good idea to maintain a good relationship.
Projects are a People Thing: What if Success or Failure is not Based on Technology?
Running a project is akin to reading a book. You have a beginning (otherwise known as the project charter) and an ending (the project closeout). A book consists of many chapters, just as there are numerous “highs” and” lows” of running a project. In the following article, I’d like to make some suggestions that I hope will give you more project “highs” than “lows.” Considering these factors will improve your project’s performance and credibility. Furthermore, your chances of having a successful project that comes in on time and under budget will increase! The single greatest factor that can make or break a project is the degree of discipline exercised by the project’s leadership. This is the glue that holds it all together and is often most evident in the managing of a project’s schedule. If, for some reason, your project falls behind, the last parameter to be cut should be quality—you need deliberate discipline to do this. If your project’s finish date is fast approaching and you know it will be later than planned, you might consider crashing it by adding more resources to your tasks. Be aware that crashing sometimes doesn’t work and might even increase the duration to finish of the project. Why? You will likely be using second-string resources that need time and supervision to get up to speed. This might cost productivity of original resources, as they will inevitably have to pause to help the new people. The following saying holds true for many projects: We never have enough time to do it right, but we always find time to do it over. Communication is the oil that keeps a project running smoothly. Project managers (PMs) may spend up to 90% of their time on internal and external communications, including status tracking and reporting processes. In fact, a recent PMI research survey indicates poor communication is the primary factor in 30% of failed projects. Document project boundaries and assumptions in your scope statement and discuss in detail with the client, so you can uncover hidden assumptions and pet deliverables. The client can then decide if their updated requests are worth the price or should be moved to a follow-up project instead. Going through this process will increase your chances of project success. A PM needs to find the balance between speaking and listening. Most people are more intent on speaking, but learning to become a better listener is the best way to get a true reading on another person or situation. This, more often than not, requires firm concentration and taking notes on key words or phrases. It’s an invaluable skill for a PM to have. Remember that the listener gains knowledge when their ears and mind are open. Foster teamwork among your resources. The more participation is encouraged, the greater the likelihood that a project’s objectives will be met. Treating others as you would like to be treated (i.e., following the Golden Rule) shows respect for the individual and that can add value. Projects run best when employee morale is high. Encourage coaching! The process of skill development needs to be established and pursued for future leaders. This also, fosters teamwork. When dislocated teams are working together, use videoconferencing technology to simulate face-to-face conversations. Also, be sensitive to time zone and cultural differences between team members. The capability to laugh shouldn’t be underestimated. Displaying a sense of humor helps you to remain cool under pressure and keep problems in perspective. It also adds value to the health—and happiness—of your team. Admit when you are wrong. Being stubborn only builds walls between people. You gain respect when you are wrong and have the courage and integrity to say it. Try not to delay or surprise people with bad news. The longer you wait, the more it smells like garbage. When I give bad news, I follow-up with possible resolutions to fix the problem and ask for input to end on a positive note hopefully gaining greater respect. Establishing a risk-supportive environment can allow the imagined to become reality. The leaders of tomorrow are taking risks today. Always be on the “alert” for positive risks (i.e., opportunity for gain) and learn to embrace them, so the probability of success rises. Positive risks could be listed in the project charter with their associated benefits. Regardless, they should at least be documented as part of the project’s “Lessons Learned” adding value to future projects. Crisis management is much more expensive than risk management. So, make sure you spend enough time on your project’s risk management. Continually use your chosen process (or methodology), but remember no process is 100% perfect in its’ original design. Changing business needs will continue to challenge the process for improvement. No approach is one size fits all. To survive, organizations have to continually redefine themselves at a faster and faster pace to keep up with their competition. As people are not perfect, projects are natural breeding grounds for discord. This can result in ineffective human behavior, which must be dealt with effectively for the overall success and health of a project. In the last 30-40 years, the growth of technology has been mind-boggling, but unfortunately not for the rapid growth of processes/methodologies. PM’s need to change (i.e., upgrade job skills) with the times and become champions of these changes or they could be left behind. As you likely know, being a PM can be a challenging and a rewarding job! What other tips would you add to those I’ve listed?
Chess and Project Management
Many kids learn to play chess in school or after school. I was a member of my school’s chess club when I was in the 7th and 8th grades. I only played chess a few times since those junior high days, but that has changed over the past several months. When the Covid-19 pandemic started, I began working on a few 1,000-piece puzzles, but was really getting bored. In fact, some stores were running out of puzzles. In October, Netflix mini-series, “The Queen’s Gambit,” came out, and within the first month had over 62,000 viewers. The show told the story of one girl’s struggle with drug and alcohol dependency, and how she (Anya Taylor-Joy) went from underdog to chess master. After seeing the show and since I had had my fill of puzzles, I decided to give chess another try. I found out that chess set sales had increased by 200% since the Netflix mini-series came out, but nonetheless, I got a hold of one. Since then, I have been playing a lot of chess with friends and online. I’ve come to realize there are quite a few similarities between project management and chess. In fact, chess lessons, when applied to project management, can be extremely helpful to project managers (PMs). The Board and the Players As you can see from the figure below, a chess board is perfectly symmetrical—the boundaries are made up of 64 squares evenly divided between 32 light squares and 32 dark squares. The board contains 8 rows (1-8) and 8 columns (A-H). Upon the board are placed two matching piece armies (white and dark). Half of the pieces are Pawns (rows 2 and 7) a.k.a. the soldiers or the team’s worker bees. The four corners (rows 1 and 8) house the Rooks (or Castles)—they have a lot of movement power (like executives). Next to the Rooks are the Knights and the curvy Bishops, which remind me of different team leads that PMs depend on for their projects. The most mobile piece is the Queen (the white one is pictured on D1). I consider her to be a strong sponsor. Next to the Queen is the King (pictured on squares E1 and E8), who may represent the client. Let’s say I’m the player (or the PM) of the white team. I’ll begin with an opening plan or strategy and execute it with the movement of my pieces (or team members). My goal is to successfully gain closure. The desired closure is to check-mate the opponent’s King, which means the King can’t escape. At that point, the game is over. A check means the opponent’s king is being attacked, but can still move out of check, interpose a blocking piece, or capture the checking piece. I’ll move on without going into a long narrative on how the pieces are maneuvered or the dozens of strategies that can be used to get a check-mate. It doesn’t take much time to learn the rules of the game, and I am sure many of you know how it’s played. Three Stages that Make a Whole Here is a quick breakdown on what each major stage entails in the game of chess: The Opening: The main objective is to effectively activate your opening moves or the beginning of your development strategy (or principles of play) to take control of the board. The Middlegame: This is where the opposing armies clash the most with a focus on using your tactics and piece combinations. The Endgame: The forces or pieces have been greatly decreased in number at this point, but check-mate hasn’t yet been delivered. The game is over when the opponent’s King is in check-mate. Let’s now compare each major stage to the life of a project: The Opening: Definition of product requirements (systems and/or software) and analysis of it. Planning and strategy come into play here, and a bold first move or start is required! The Middlegame: This is where the design and development of the product occurs. The Endgame: Testing, implementation, and hopefully acceptance by the client. Of course, the above could be modified depending on the methodology your organization is using, but you stay with me here, and we’ll see how chess strategy can be applied to the management of projects successfully. Patience Learning to be a good chess player requires patience. It also nurtures the ability to sit and systematically think. Usually after a grinding middlegame, I am mentally tired and low on patience. If I am ahead (have more pieces than my opponent), I need to exercise more patience to get a check-mate and win the game. Why? One of the most beautiful things about chess is that if your opponent only has a King left (or a King with a few other pieces that are blocked from moving), there is the possibility of ending the game with a stalemate (or draw). This is a situation where my opponent’s King is not in check, but can’t make a legal move (meaning any move would put it in check-mate). I have had a few endgames where I had many more pieces than my opponent and tried to go for the quick check-mate, but ended up in a draw because I didn’t have the patience to smartly move my pieces to avoid it. The bottom line is that patience is part of being a disciplined PM and a successful leader. Space Strategies Space refers to the geometric properties of shape, size, and distance. We often refer to a three-dimensional area (3D) and can determine the position of a point within that framework. If you add in the element of time, then you have what is often called a fourth-dimensional area (4D) or spacetime. Chess is really a game of physical spatial conquest done in a timely manner (watch The Queen’s Gambit and you’ll know that chess matches are indeed timed). Usually, the player that controls the most space early on controls the game. Maneuvering your pieces (or team members) is much easier when you have the space to move because you don’t have any pawns in the way. Other benefits include making it easier to get from one side of the battlefield to the other side or avoiding being in a cramped position (i.e., having most of your team members sitting in a corner). Of course, to safely protect your King (or head honcho), you need to have extra space (or squares) to move him to. This helps you to avoid a future check. If you don’t have extra safety spaces or enough time to create them, you could be setting yourself up for a check-mate. There are many laws of space in a chess game. A couple include trying to control the center of the board before attacking on the sides of the board, or, during the endgame, consider bringing your King to the center of the board which makes it harder for your opponent to get a check-mate—this is especially useful if you are losing. It would be difficult to memorize all the laws of space, but they could be documented on a storage network or cloud storage service. I am referring to the idea of project documentation. As we all know, cost is usually dependent on the amount of disk space used. In Microsoft Project’s Task Information dialog box > Predecessors tab, you can define the lag between dependent tasks. Lag (or overlap) between tasks comes about no matter what, but if you have a positive number in the lag field, this creates delay (shown visually in time and space in the Gantt Chart). If you have a negative number between dependent tasks, you will see an overlap between the two tasks on the Gantt Chart. Summary A key to playing chess well is to better understand the relationships between the pieces (or team members). You also must gain the ability to recognize patterns. When you see a pattern (or plan) that you are familiar with, the right moves surprisingly suggest themselves. Do you see the correlation to project management and chess, as I do? We aren’t the only ones! Chess is used in the study of the cognitive process, and in the development of artificial intelligence (AI).
Project Take-Over Checklist
Looking for Red Flags Periodically during my career at IBM, a live project would be thrown “over the fence,” and, inevitably, hit me on the head while I was working on another full-time project. These were usually troubled projects, and I would be the second or third project manager to take over. They were also typically between the 2 – 6 month mark in their life cycle. Ideally if a project is thrown over the fence, so to speak, it should have a clean bill of health, updated project plan, and a good transition from the outgoing PM to the new one. Unfortunately, this was not usually the case and many of these short-term endeavors turned into long-term exercises! I learned through experience to ask about the history of the project and to study the project plan given to me for any red flags that would hold me up from successfully executing the project plan. Some of the back-history questions I would ask the previous PM (if still around) and/or the Principal (IBMer who manages the client’s account) were as follows: Why am I getting this unannounced project? What is the project’s goal and objectives? Does the Scope Statement include project boundaries to avoid scope creep? How much of the project is over budget? If so, why? Are there any budget funds for approved changes, known risks, or unknown risks? How many times has the plan been baselined? Is the project plan up-to-date? If not, what should I do if I reassess the project plan and the team/clients/sponsors don’t buy into the new target dates? How can we improve performance? Can we reduce scope? What are the major issues and risks? What change requests are currently being worked on? Where can I get a copy of the communications plan? Who else is on the IBM team? If so, where are they located? Who are the clients and sponsors, and do we have any problems in working with them? How often can I travel to the client’s office or headquarters? Is there too much dependency on a small number of key resources? Does the project depend on factors that are out of my control? What happens if I look at the project plan and realize this is really a program—usually a group of related projects working toward the completion of a single deliverable? That’s a lot of questions, but I always felt they were necessary. After getting the history or chronicles of the project, the next thing I’d do was to look at the project plan for red flags. Some of the key areas I’d look at were related to the big picture and to resources. BIG PICTURE RED FLAGS 1. Reasonable Time Period? The first thing to ask here is, does the amount of time from start to end sound reasonable for the type of project you are working on. I have worked on many major Oracle financial upgrades, and they can take up to a year to complete for a large organization. If I see a similar plan that shows a duration of five months, I know the plan is incomplete and needs to be updated. Likewise, if a small maintenance project has a duration of six months in a plan, it usually means there are too many tasks and/or the tasks are inflated or padded (probably the worst thing a PM can do to a project). In this case, the tasks can get bigger as they move up the food chain, will ruin your credibility, and create a situation where no one really knows when the project will end. 2. Graphical and Visual Reports? There are over forty reports to choose from in MS Project, plus you can customize and create your own reports. Some of the graphical reports available are Burndown, Project Overview, Earned Value, Cost Overruns, Slipping/Late/Critical Tasks, and Milestones (discussed in next topic). One of my favorite reports to run first when being handed a project and looking for those red flags is the Burndown (Report tab / View Reports / Dashboards > Burndown), which is a chart that displays the work completed and what’s still left to do. The other various visual reports (on the Report tab) gather selected data (including resources) from MS Project and export it to Excel or Visio. All of these are worth looking at. 3. Milestones? Are there enough milestones? I like to see milestones for project start, phase completion, decisions and approvals, handoffs, and deliveries. There should be no resources assigned because the zero duration means there’s no work to perform. If the duration is greater than zero (negative numbers are not supported), the first thing I do is research the reason why. It could be an error or there could be a good reason (i.e., you could have a negative slack if the deadline or constraint date occurs sooner than the task’s calculated finished date). 4. Critical Path? Another thing I’d always look for is delayed tasks by going to Report tab / View Reports / In Progress > Critical Tasks or at the related Visio-based Status Report. An incomplete critical path that has gaps or chucks missing is a red flag. There can be many reasons why there are gaps (i.e., missing task dependencies, date constraints, and resource leveling) but it always means this needs to be investigated and corrected. Sometimes these gaps are OK (i.e., Project doesn’t show completed tasks on the critical path because it cannot affect the plan’s finish date). Another way of looking at the Critical Path is going to the Format tab and selecting the Critical Tasks check box from the Bar Styles section. Project uses red formatting for the critical tasks’ Gantt bars. RESOURCE RED FLAGS 1. Duplicate Resources? On large project plans, I look for duplicate resources for the same person (View tab / Resource Views section / Resource Sheet). For example, “Michael Smith” might be listed on three tasks as Mike Smith, M. Smith, and Michael Smith. This is a rookie mistake that needs to be corrected. You might also find out that the corrected resource is overallocated. 2. Resource Overallocation? If you notice a red person icon in the Inserted Indicators column, you’ve got a resource that is overallocated. If that happens, you must balance the workloads to eliminate resource overallocation. There are many ways of doing this. For example, reassign a task to another resource, reschedule the task to a different date, or acquire additional resources. You could also accept the overallocation if the resource is willing to work overtime. The Task Inspector (Task tab / Tasks section / double click Inspect, which appears on the left side of the view) can be extremely helpful on what actions are available for resource overallocations. In MS Project there are many other ways of finding overallocated resources. For example, use the filter capability by going to the View tab / Resource Views section / click Other Views > More Views / double click Resource Allocation, or in the Report tab / View Reports section / Resources > Overallocated Resources. 3. Other Resource Considerations? When you are taking over a trouble project, you won’t fully understand all the staffing requirements that are needed right away. You should be looking at staffing ramp-up and staffing roll-off, right skillsets, training, vacations/holidays/plant shutdowns, keeping resources on critical tasks focused, and interference from activities outside the project such as resolving problems in products that have already been delivered to the same client. Do you have any other tips on what to do if you are taking over a project from another PM? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.
Communication Wake-Up
In my 40 plus years of project management, I have found most new project managers (PMs) lack skills around giving presentations, conducting meetings, and listening. This gap in communication can be particularly large if the new PM comes with a background in a very technical area, such as database management or IT security. Toastmasters When I started my career, my own communication abilities were not up to the challenge either. Seeking to improve, I joined a local Toastmasters International (TI) club. TI is a non-profit, worldwide educational organization that operates clubs for the purpose of promoting improved communication, public speaking, and leadership skills among its members Through practice and positive feedback from the group, I saw my communication abilities, management capabilities, and self-confidence grow. I also gained practice in respecting the ideas and viewpoints of others and found it a great chance to practice finding the balance between speaking and listening—a skill PMs need in a world where most people are more intent on speaking than listening. Learning that the best way to get a true reading on another person is to listen to what they have to say is an invaluable for a PM to have. In short, because of TI, I became a better listener, speaker, and PM. Other club benefits included making new professional contacts and friends. One part of every TI meeting that initially frightened me, but eventually I came to enjoy was Table Topics. This was run by the assigned Topics Master who chose a topic of the day. He or she would randomly pick a few members and ask a question about the topic, so you really needed to pay attention. If your name was called, you were called upon to immediately stand up and start answering the specific question. The purpose was to practice the skill of quickly thinking on one’s feet with minimal preparation. As a PM (and a teacher), this was an invaluable experience for me. Toastmasters meetings are typically held one hour per week at a set time and place (they are likely virtual now because of COVID-19). Like anything else in life, the more effort you put into something, the more value you get out of it. I suggest that committing to a weekly meeting like this could help you to advance your PM career invaluably. You can find a local club to visit or join by going to toastmasters.org. I live in Houston, TX, and here alone, we have over 100 clubs! The Rest of the Story Later in my career, I took a job as a senior project/program manager for an international software company. Because of the positive experience I had, I decided to start a Toastmasters club at my new organization for all employees. The CIO heard about it and sought me out to tell me it was a great idea. Client feedback surveys had showed that his IT department did an extremely poor job with communication, and he wanted to improve this situation. So, with the help of a few local area Toastmaster’s directors, I built up the club and membership grew. About eight months later, client surveys came back with the results—IT had made great progress in improving its communications. As a side benefit, the company club helped strengthen relationships among employees, which enhanced the probability of having more successful projects. I encourage PMs looking to improve their communication abilities to consider Toastmasters or other development opportunities like it. Falling short in these crucial skills is no minor problem in a career where communicating can take up to 90 percent of your time. In fact, recent PMI research indicates poor communication is a primary factor in 30 percent of failed projects. PMs must take proactive steps to improve their skills, and ultimately their projects. Do you have ideas for improving communication skills? For example, taking an in-person or live online Dale Carnegie course. Dale was an American author and lecturer and wrote the best seller “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Or has anyone out there tried Toastmasters? I hope you might think about looking them up, and I’d love to hear in the comments below if you do. *This is an update of PMI’s PM Network article from February 2017. Used with permission.