The above headline seems to be the message in an article in the latest edition of Computer Weekly.: “The article, called “How will suppliers be able to cut IT costs?” starts with the words: “The government has told IT suppliers it wants them to reduce the cost of contracts with government departments.” The paragraph ends with: “But it could be the government that has to change the most.”

Nineteen IT suppliers met the Cabinet Office Minister, Francis Maude to start the process of reducing the cost of contracts.

The article goes on to suggest that ‘red tape’ needs to be addressed and the government must overcome a lack of trust if suppliers are to meet targets without just cutting costs to the bone or stripping service levels.

“The government wants immediate reductions in costs and ongoing cuts” says the article.

Francis Maude said he was challenging major government suppliers to take costs out of contracts. “Some of this will come from margins, but we will invite ideas on how we can structure things differently to reduce complexity and cost.”

There will no doubt be more articles like this as time progresses and for sure, this will impact on many people - anyone involved in IT, project management or procurement plus of course shareholders.

If you are based in the US you also have some ‘issues.’ Shortly before completing this article I came across the headline: “White House to Review High Risk Projects”. This can be found here.

An extract of the Computer Weekly article can be found here.

Last week I ran a workshop specifically for project sponsors. Every person in the room was a senior manager, they sponsored projects and yes, managed them as well. 

On my travels to the training venue, I sent a Tweet that read: 

Running project sponsor workshop today. Why are so few courses run for such a key group? Any suggestions? 

Not surprisingly, I had no takers. 

So, why so few development opportunities (courses and workshops) for this important group? 

In February this year, Arras People published a report called Arras People Project Management Report 2010.   In their report, they found that senior managers lack of support contributed to project failure. 

Scouring the internet as I frequently do and looking at back copies of magazines shows there are articles about  this topic - not enough - but sufficient to give you a feeling that the training and development of senior managers is an untapped area. 

In my 16 years as Director of Project Agency we have run  courses for sponsors (see http://bit.ly/dcOXjX ) but, very few compared to courses for project managers. This is not for the want of trying. Much energy and effort has been put into convincing and influencing senior managers of the need for this type of training. 

So, what can be done to try and develop such an important group? I clearly do not have all of the answers however here are a few suggestions: 

1. Pressure from project managers - on a couple of occasions a few project managers have returned from a training course and debated the topic with senior managers with a workshop for them resulting 
2. There are many competency frameworks in use and maybe there is a link to one for sponsors. Clearly the performance appraisal process will need to identify development needs based on the framework 
3. Critical incidence - projects do go wrong! However, how many companies really examine what went right and what went wrong? If the Arras survey is to be believed then some of the errors will be down to a lack of senior managers’ engagement. This would need to be rectified by some training and development activity 
4. Conferences - I speak at a variety of conferences and this is one way of attracting attention of senior managers to the need for training in this area 

I believe the project management industry has not made the progress that it should have done. So, what suggestions do you have for engaging and influencing and ultimately developing this group of staff?

 

 

Yes it is. Someone needs to do it, so why not you! Protect the project scope!

Well, there are some major assumptions that need testing in the above words:

1. someone needs to do it; I am still coming across projects where the scope of the project is identified, agreed but not managed. So, whether you are a project sponsor, project board member, project manager or team member. Take responsibility and protect what has been agreed.
2. protect the project scope; why bother? I have assumed of course that the scope of work has been agreed. If this is the case then the scope needs protecting. I see too many projects where scope creep seems endemic. (Scope creep, amending the scope of work to be done without an agreed process to check that the ‘new work’ is worth doing)

A lack of protection around the scope is a clear risk. It is also a governance one - who can make the decisions to change the project and how.

So, here is a simple process to help you manage scope creep or requests for change. It is by no means perfect and you will need to put your head above the parapet by suggesting completing of a change request form. Download a brief PowerPoint presentation here and some hard copy documents.

“Scope creep is a sick illness treatable only by saying no.” This quote came from a project manager who decided to challenge the ‘request’ from a senior manager to include something in the project. I suggested he should avoid saying NO but use the process. He did and focused on the process in the presentation and it worked!

Get the presentation here and some free templates!

Yesterday,  I ran a project management course and spoke about the need for companies to look at their overall portfolio of projects and challenge the list asking among other things:

• does each project fit with the overall objectives?
• what are the priorities within the overall list?
• are there some nice to have rather than essentials?

We had an interesting debate and I suggested that cuts to the list would help focus on delivery of the overall company agenda.

A little later I looked on line at the BBC website and cutting was the key word: “Coalition government axes £2bn of projects” screamed the headlines.

The group looked on reading and you can find out more here.

Life is not all project management - or at least I try and make it that way.

Saturday saw me drive all of 15 miles across London (which took me 2 hours!) to see my favourite rugby league team the current champions Leeds Rhinos. They were playing Harlequins and had a much changed side with 8 players out (international calls and injuries).

It was a great day out with Leeds winning 42-22 - a wonderful result with so many regular 1st teamers out. The reserve players played really well.

At the press conference afterwards the Leeds Coach Brian McClennan was asked:

“How did you approach this game? Did you see it as a potential opportunity or a banana skin with all the reserves?”

McClennan reply is interesting. Look at some of the things he said:

“I turned it over to the players”

“I said, this is your baby, you work it out”

“The players took a lot of ownership on their roles; they took a lot of ownership on how they would play.”

So how does this link with project team roles? I have written many times about problems with roles in project management. Only last week on a project management training course I ran a project manager suggested he did not know who his sponsor was and this was having a negative impact on the project. Link this with a survey by Project Agency. We have asked project managers whether their roles, responsibilities, and levels of authority are clear in our projects. Almost 60% who have answered suggest this is not the case.

Here is a shining example of a situation where personnel changes demanded clear roles and a coach who though giving them their head, ensured that all bases were covered. Oh for the same in projects!

Well done the Rhinos -  the players, and the coach. A great victory and a great example.

See post match comments from Brian McClennan here

http://www.therhinos.co.uk/news/11164.php

So, according to all the news reports, the previous Labour government here in the UK got it wrong! They forecast that economic growth would be 3.25%. The new Office for Budget Responsibility has downgraded this estimate to 2.6%.

News reports suggest that the previous Labour Government were overoptimistic in their planning estimates.

Cut now to projects. I hear all the time that senior managers demand delivery of a project by a certain date. But, the issue for those involved is that the date is usually widely optimistic.

So, what can be done? During a recent project management training course we discussed this in some detail and came up with a number of possible options.

• plan the project and then present this to your senior manager showing the problems of delivery
• use the quality, time cost triangle to show the impact of delivery to the date required with the resources (people and money) available
• show the plan without risks and then with risks highlighting the impact of trying to deliver the project by the due date
• reduce quality of the overall project saving valuable time (clearly not an option for some, a possibility for others)
• the tongue in cheek suggestion of asking for more resources and showing the impact of no resources on the project

Of course, these suggestions are based on the people involved, the project and the company!! However, I also suggested that project managers sometimes need to raise their heads above the parapet. In other words, challenge the demand to deliver when it is clear that you cannot. I did however preface this comment that project managers, like all managers need to develop their influencing skills. This is just the opportunity.

So, what suggestions do you have for dealing with the demand for delivery by a date that is overoptimistic? I would be interested to hear!

People attending a recent project management workshop suggested that they needed some help estimating. I probed just that bit deeper and discovered that many people were working on what I would call ‘repeat projects.’ They are repeating a project that was done say last year or an element of a project.

This led me to ask (knowing the answer) whether the organisation kept a list or directory of times that tasks take. The body language of those on our project management courses was very interesting….it screamed “of course we don’t.”

I also asked whether at project closure estimates of times within the project plan are reviewed for accuracy. I got the same reaction

If companies want to deliver projects effectively then they need to be able to take as many short cuts as possible. By this I mean having to hand a list of agreed estimates (or ranges of estimates) that will help those who have little or no project management experience or even the experienced project manager.

Now I am not suggesting that these become the minimum times more a range that can be used in putting the plan together. As someone suggested, “project management is like a game of golf - be realistic and reconsider your plan after every shot.” Estimates are no different.

Finally, yes we do include how to estimate on our project management training courses however a lot of anxieties could be allayed if companies kept records of times for projects or stages or activities.

I was very encouraged when I attended a meeting of a locally registered charity. They want to embark on a very ambitious building programme costing a round £2m - a massive sum of money for this small organisation.

The objective of meeting was to update the audience of progress on the scheme. It is very early days and the big issue is funding as well as building design - a rather emotive topic. The interesting aspect that drew a lot of questions surrounded project governance. He was very clear:

• that there should only be a handful of people who could make decisions on the project. He went on to say that change control will be tightly managed - there are a lot of hard working well thought of volunteers in this charity who will have input into the scheme. He suggested that as the build was going on they would possibly want to change various aspects of the scheme. These are well trusted people and have supported the charity for many years. But he said; “we need a process to ensure that any changes are properly considered.”

• there will be a need to change the constitution (via an emergency general meeting of all members) of the charity to ensure that any project management governance structure is built into it. The current decision making structure is not strong enough to ensure there is sufficient controls over this project. Without the EGM there can be no governance structure and in his word; no project - that raised a few sharp intakes of breath. He was very clear there would be internal discussions, consultations involving all stakeholders but that the scheme was new physical structure that needed an internal structure to match

Here’s a charity that is setting out its stall for success and wants to avoid some of the many risks involved in this large capital project. They understand the need for proper controls and are even prepared to amend their constitution to ensure it happens.

What do you do to ensure your project have an effective governance process? 

The new British coalition government are today announcing a series of financial cutbacks. A brief comment by a BBC political commentator on the TV caught my attention this morning.

Apparently, later this year, a minister will be visiting every government department to identify possible projects to cut. The interesting issue is whether there is a list of key projects for the minister to look at and whether it is representative of all projects.

Switch to your company; if the same thing happened in your company i.e. you needed to cut back on projects (for whatever reason) is there is there is a list of key projects (project register) that someone could look at and, is it a true list?

I have run many project management training courses and my company Project Agency runs many such events each year. However, does the training itself really develop project management skills?

I spoke recently to a client and said that while project management training will help support delivery of projects the company needs to go beyond a 2 day project management course and support the individual still further. They were intrigued and asked what else could they do? This is what I said:

1. After the project management course, give them a mentor (preferably someone trained as a mentor) who has expertise in project management and management generally.
2. Shadowing an experienced project manager with regular reviews pulling out learning for the ‘trainee’ project manager
3. Coaching - we have coached many people (after they have been on a project management training course) and the end result has been a much stronger development process. This should not simply be a one off but a proper coaching programme based on a real project and developing real skills
4. Forming a project management community - developing people’s skills can be done on-line through archiving reference materials (completed project management templates for example). I would also suggest developing the community by having speakers that come along on a lunch time and address a group of project managers - video these and place them on the intranet
5. Appraisal - set stretching performance management targets based on a project. Maybe it is delivery of a stage or a large task. Effective feedback needs to be built into the overall process and should be done on a regular basis (every 2 or 3 months)
6. Let them have a go! People learn by doing however a mix of 1-4 will really help someone develop project management skills
7. Reading - a great way to learn however not everyone’s preferred learning style; this can include internal or external case studies blogs etc
8. E-courses - there are a wide range of learning in the market place - this can support the individual especially with a modular approach

As I said to our client, project management training can help develop skills however it is an incremental process which needs managing and some of the above points will help this.

Those are my ideas. What about yours?

For just over 3 weeks I have been trying to sort out a real mess with my Broadband supplier BT. This has cost me lost time, lots and lots of emotional stress and strain and guess what, we are into week 3 and the problem has only just been sorted out.

I mentioned my frustrations to a group of people who attended one of our project workshops . I mentioned that I felt out of control as I could not seem to resolve the problem. The discussion developed and it was interesting when I asked how many of the group felt they were in control in all of their projects. Few said yes.

I have often felt that some course participants who come along to our project management workshops need more control and I have expressed this to different groups. This lack of control in projects is manifested in many different ways:

• having poor briefings about their projects from their sponsors - often not having the background to understand why they are doing the project including some of the ‘political’ background.

• project resources being pulled from the project despite the resource being involved in the allocation of time and the responsibility

• poor guidance on project priorities - project managers often report that priorities are unclear or seem to change very quickly leaving the project manager to dance a different tune

• poor internal processes ranging from extended decision making to poor or no project management methodologies

• poor project accountabilities leaving the project manager unsure as to who can and cannot make a decision

I know many of you reading this article will suggest that project managers need to be resilient, develop strategies to regain control etc. There are however many project managers who are struggling to regain control of their projects. Our project management training helps but does not give them back the control they need to deliver.

Always remember, you cannot hold a person responsible for what they do not control!

How well organised are you and how well organised do you need to be to be an effective project manager?

This was a question raised on one of our recent project management courses by one of the participants and caused a lot of discussion and problems for some of those present.

Problems for those present; this was because several did not feel they were well organised. They were surprisingly open and honest and cited:

• desks piled high with papers
• creating to do lists and losing them creating further lists (effectively wasting time and doing ‘busy work’
• having a reputation for being late - at meetings, at delivering key milestones and checking on team members delivery of tasks

Two people in the project management course were very quiet and when I brought them into the discussion they said they felt they were organised, had good systems (including diary management), and in general felt that this contributed to them being effective project managers.

So, I issued a challenge to the quiet ones on the project management course; why not help those on the course who said they were not very well organised? They readily accepted the challenge and I left them to work out how this could be done. I did however ask for feedback. The results were encouraging (3 weeks after the course ended):

• I now have a diary management system which I have just about got used to. It will help me plan my time much better

• I am no longer late for meetings. In fact I get there too early

• My desk is a lot tidier and I am aware of the need for paperwork to be filed and kept to a minimum

The bottom line message was that they felt better organised.  Like any project the impact of these changes may take a while to come through, however, as one person said: “I now feel I will be a better project manager.”

So, what do you think? Are your organisational skills helping or hindering you to deliver your projects and do you need to be well organised to be an effective project manager?  

While running project management courses, I have been accused a few times of being a bureaucrat and I hate it!

What’s the reason I have been accused of being bureaucratic?

The main reason is my suggestion in our project management training that project managers use some simple project management templates to help them manage their projects. During discussions with those who attend our project management coursesI introduce participants to a range of project management templates. I suggest that they are really useful as communication tools internally or externally. Now I do not want to revisit my last post about project management communication if however you want to read it you can find it here.

Some of the project managers who have been on our project management workshops seem to be carrying lots of project information in their heads;

• risks - in their head
• stakeholders - in their head
• business case, yes, in their head

The list could go on.

Those who know me will testify that I hate bureaucracy - not just in project management! So, here’s my suggestion. If you want to communicate, if you want to manage your projects effectively you will need some paperwork to help you do this. What paperwork? Some people have internal project management templates that they use, some do not. So, how about downloading our project management teampltes - for free! BUT, the key is to adapt them for your project and use only those that you need.

That way, you avoid keeping information in your head and it is put down on paper - for others and to communicate.

Download ours here and do amend them to fit your needs. 

 ”It’s the way you tell ‘em”……allegedly said by the late Tommy Cooper.

How do you tell ‘em? How do you communicate information in your projects and how effective are you?

A survey by my company, Project Agency shows that nearly 70% of project managers who have been our project management raining courses felt that project communications were poor or very poor - an interesting statistic as they are the ones who should be trying to make them effective.

When we went on to discuss communications in more detail the majority said they disliked email as a means of communicating. Why? “We receive too many.” In many cases over 75 per day with some receiving 100-150 per day.

Here’s the sting in the tail! When asked what method they mainly used to communicate they said…..e-mail!

When we looked at alternative methods of communicating it was obvious that some people put very little time into developing an overall communications strategy for their projects.

Those involved in change management projects (a significant proportion) said they faced a number of challenges introducing change. When I made the link between the need for excellent communication and change there was a slow realisation that more time and effort and different channels of communications should be used.

• What about you? How do you tell ‘em? Is this effective?

• Do you just use one main method of communicating? If yes, what other methods would   produce  better results or the same results with less effort?

• Introducing change? Do you need to be more effective with your communications?

Maybe time for action!