Improve Your Foresight

/in /by

Improve Your ForesightProject managers need foresight to anticipate potential issues and handle project curveballs. Developing foresight takes time so here are five tips to help you expand your foresight. 

  • Learn from the past. Most organizations keep project files but few people ever look at them. Take time to study previous projects in your organization, successful and unsuccessful alike. Look for trends and patterns. Find out why things went astray. Figure out whether risks were predicted and how they were dealt with. Lessons learned documents are a gold mine for developing foresight, but only if you read them!  
  • Talk with project stakeholders. Rarely does everyone related to a project have the same perspective. Talk to stakeholders about the goals, benefits, shortcomings, and other stressors that came from the projects they were involved in. Listen carefully and be ready for criticism. Not only will these discussions help build your foresight – you will solidify key relationships that make it easier to share truth and increase your ability to make your project stakeholders happy.
  • Review plans and question assumptions. Be prepared to examine, question, and edit your project plans multiple times. Many projects fail because the initial plans weren’t analyzed and adjusted. Question anything that is new or appears to have come from guesswork or assumptions. Test assumptions for feasibility and add tasks to your plans to confirm those assumptions. These activities help ensure you create achievable plans.
  • Consider alternative scenarios. When asking for estimates from your team members, use the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). Don’t just ask for a single estimate. Ask for optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic estimates. Talk with your estimators about those three estimates and what thinking when into them. You’ll learn more about the challenges your team members might face. This can significantly increase your foresight and help you predict issues before they occur.
  • Never stop learning.  Sign up for courses. Obtain certifications, follow industry experts online, and attend conferences. The more you deliberately expand your knowledge, the better you can envision the road ahead rather than just reacting as your projects progress.

How good is your foresight? What experiences in your past helped you build your foresight? Share with us in the comments section.

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 60,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Project Justification: Trade-off Options

/in /by

The justification for a project isn’t always obvious. There could be a lot of negotiation to address conflicting business needs. And it can go beyond juggling the triple constraints of cost, scope, and time. When the team is struggling to agree on project justification, here are some trade-offs to consider.

  • Resources versus project finish date. Project requirements often come with pre-set, aggressive deadlines. Adding resources, including contracting specialized skills, is one way to meet those deadlines. Keep in mind, even with more resources, aggressive deadlines can increase risk because the schedule is more sensitive to resource changes and task completion issues.
  • Using out-of-the-box, configuration, or customization when implementing software. Software products often come with a standard set of business processes they support. This out-of-the box approach to implementing software is the easiest and least expensive. Most software packages also supply features to configure the product, providing flexibility to support varied business processes. While configuring is more expensive and time-consuming than using out-of-the-box software, configuration can enhance business efficiency and effectiveness. Alternatively, businesses might choose to customize the software to address specific or unique processes. Customization is costly and comes with inherent risks, such as compatibility with future software updates from the vendor. Prioritize using out-of-the-box or configuration. Reserve customization for cases where the business relies on proprietary and unique processes that require tailored software support.
  • Deliver in phases versus running one large project. Many stakeholders submit a broad set of project requirements. While they are all useful, you might not need all of them to deliver business benefit. Breaking a project down into phases means you can deliver value earlier. It also reduces risk, especially when project team members have day-to-day operational responsibilities. A longer project means it’s more likely that key team members will be pulled away to handle operational needs. Finally, when the business is cost-conscious, a smaller project is helpful. The initial project phase will cost less. Also, stakeholders will scrutinize the requirements for future project phases, because they need a stand-alone business case. Finally, as business conditions change, a seemingly important requirement might not be as crucial.
  • Quality versus speed. Quality versus speed is a powerful yet risky trade-off. Sure, you can reduce project cost and deliver products sooner by using fewer quality assurance processes. However, the project cost might increase if the delivered products have errors that affect the business, or worse yet, your business’s customers. This trade-off is often made late in a project when deadlines are at risk, and teams are desperate to deliver on time. Discuss this trade-off possibility in advance before deadline pressure is present. Negotiate to keep the quality assurance processes needed to protect the business from costly errors.
  • Long-term maintenance versus initial development. In product development projects, a crucial decision involves identifying the ongoing maintenance activities required once the project concludes and the product is in daily use. You can minimize product maintenance by investing more effort, cost, and time during development. Development for a simpler product can be faster and less costly, but it can increase maintenance effort and long-term usage cost. For example, you could build a machine that is self-lubricating, which would be more costly. However, maintenance would involve ensuring that there was enough lubricant for the machine to work properly. The simpler machine would cost less to build.  But then, it would require effort, resources, and downtime while the machine is periodically disassembled and lubricated manually. Working with the product designers, project managers can identify the holistic total cost of ownership to negotiate project approval. 

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 59,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Attaining Harmony with Your Sponsor

/in /by

Harmony between the project manager and project sponsor increases your ability to achieve project objectives. Because each relationship is unique, you must build it with intention. Here are critical items to understand to increase your harmony with your sponsor:

  • Your sponsor’s perspective of their strengths and areas to improve. Everyone has strengths and areas for improvement. Determine where your sponsor sees themselves as a solid contributor, and where they feel they could improve. That way, you can optimize the contributions you make. Prioritize the outcomes that the sponsor needs the most, that you can produce given your strengths, and the sponsor might struggle to produce. This collaboration inspires confidence and increases productivity. When you support each other, your interactions become more comfortable and predictable, and that benefits every project you two work together on.
  • How your sponsor processes information. Some people like to see the big picture, while others prefer diving into details. A sponsor might focus on task status or concentrate instead on budget status. Think communication plan: what information, presentation format, communication method, and frequency. Communicate the information your sponsor cares about most in the way that makes it easiest for them to understand. When other information is significant, point it out to the sponsor. Use the sponsor’s preferred method and frequency of delivery, such as face to face every Friday, by email as needed. Make sponsor communication high-priority. When you follow your sponsor’s communication preferences, you will increase your effectiveness and your sponsor’s confidence.
  • Your sponsor’s triple-constraint priority. Manage your project according to your sponsor’s priority of cost, scope, and time. That way, you know the trade-offs your sponsor would be willing to make. For example, if time is most important, followed by scope, and then cost, you can guess that the sponsor would choose to spend more and shave a little scope in order to stay on schedule. This priority also guides you in how to manage risk responses and report variance. With this knowledge, you can proactively recommend or implement adjustments as the project progresses. You and your sponsor will be aligned, even when things aren’t on track.
  • Your sponsor’s decision-making approach. Some managers prefer having facts so they can analyze them to figure out a course of action. Others want you to do the analysis and present options with pros and cons so they can choose. Your sponsor will make decisions more quickly when you give them the information they want. Following their decision-making approach can also streamline how you manage change in your projects.

Have you discovered other things that can help build a better relationship with a project sponsor? Or do you have questions about how to implement the ones in this article? If so, share with us in the comments section.

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 59,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Trends in Project Management

/in /by

Here are seven of the hottest trends in the evolving field of project management. Post in the comment section with which of these topics interest you. I will prioritize future articles based on the topics with the highest interest.

  1. AI and automation in project management. Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation technologies are being integrated into project management tools. These help streamline routine tasks, improve accuracy in project forecasting, and enhance overall efficiency.

  2. Agile in non-IT environments. The principles of Agile, such as iterative development and continuous feedback, have reached beyond software development and are being embraced in fields like marketing, HR, and manufacturing.

  3. Hybrid project management. Many organizations are adopting hybrid project management approaches, which combine traditional waterfall and Agile practices. The benefit is to use appropriate approaches to different parts of a project to achieve the best project outcomes.

  4. Remote project management. With the rise of remote work, project managers must adapt their strategies to manage remote teams in different locations. This requires collaboration tools, virtual communication platforms, and effective approaches for developing teamwork.

  5. Emphasis on emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is now recognized as a crucial skill for project managers. With stakeholders, the ability to understand and navigate emotions will enhance communication, collaboration, and project success.

  6. Data-driven decision-making. Project managers are leveraging data analytics alongside project management tools to make informed decisions. By collecting and analyzing relevant data, teams can identify trends, anticipate potential issues, and optimize processes for better project outcomes.

  7. Focus on organizational change management. Successful project managers are using organizational change management principles to help teams and stakeholders adapt to project-related changes. This includes communication strategies, stakeholder engagement, and addressing resistance to change.

Post in the comments section to cast your vote(s) for your favorite trend!

Coming Up

Marlene Chism is an expert in conflict, anger management, working with difficult people, and having difficult conversations – things most of us want to avoid. Despite the tough topics, she’s a truly lovely person. In this LinkedIn Learning Office Hours, we’re going to dig into some of the concepts she teaches for dealing with conflict. We’ll spend the rest of the session providing practical advice for dealing with conflict and other difficult situations. Bring your questions about the conflict you need help with, and we’ll provide advice for as many as we can fit in!I hope you will join us on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 11am MT, 1 PM ET for this no-nonsense, advice-packed session on dealing with conflict with composure.

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 58,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Dealing with competing project priorities

/in /by

Dealing with competing project prioritiesTeam members usually juggle work on multiple projects, so competing priorities and limited staff time are bound to disrupt project schedules. When your project faces competition from other high-priority projects, follow these steps to optimize results for your organization:

  • Verify project priorities with management. Lack of guidance from senior leaders can result in conflicting priorities. Management might not be aware of potential conflicts unless project managers bring them to their attention. Present the project conflicts to management and ask for unambiguous project priorities so the project managers involved can adjust their schedules accordingly. If your project isn’t high priority, move on to the remaining steps in this article.
  • Identify the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) scope. To support current organization priorities, focus on the MVP scope for your project. This will minimize the drag on organizational resources while still delivering value to the business. Work with your project team to reassess and reprioritize tasks that focus on the MVP. You can defer or deprioritize non-essential tasks to reduce scope and workload. Moving forward, consider deferred scope items for a separate project when organizational priorities permit.
  • Identify the required skills to produce the MVP. Adjust your project staffing to supply the skills needed for the MVP. This adjustment might reduce the demand for senior project team members and alleviate prioritization conflicts.
  • Work with other project managers and/or department heads to optimize schedules. Compare staffing needs across projects with your colleagues. You may find ways to optimize schedules by redistributing tasks or sharing resources without overallocation.
  • Adjust your project timeline. Reevaluate your project timeline based on the MVP scope, available resources, and when resources are available to your project. Clearly communicate timeline changes to stakeholders to manage their expectations.
  1. Closely monitor your revised plan. Be flexible as your project and competing projects progress. You might need to adjust your plan again to optimize overall organization results. Regularly monitor and adapt your project plan as needed.

Every project manager has had to deal with competing priorities. How do you approach this dilemma? What changes have you made on past projects? Share with us in the comments section.

For more about project priorities, check out Andy Jordan’s Project Portfolio Management Foundations course.

Coming Up

Marlene Chism is an expert in conflict, anger management, working with difficult people, and having difficult conversations – things most of us want to avoid. Despite the tough topics, she’s a truly lovely person. In this LinkedIn Learning Office Hours, we’re going to dig into some of the concepts she teaches for dealing with conflict. We’ll spend the rest of the session providing practical advice for dealing with conflict and other difficult situations. Bring your questions about the conflict you need help with, and we’ll provide advice for as many as we can fit in!I hope you will join us on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 11am MT, 1 PM ET for this no-nonsense, advice-packed session on dealing with conflict with composure.

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than xx,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Focus on What’s Important

/in /by

One of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly-Successful People is to put first things first – that is – put your time and energy into what’s important and say no to what isn’t. Let’s look at common project manager habits that you might want to break in order to have time to focus on what’s truly important in your projects.

  • Attending repeat meetings routinely. Meetings are often pre-scheduled every one or two weeks. It’s a handy way to carve out time to keep stakeholders up to date. What if there’s no significant project news or risks to talk about? There’s no need for a meeting!  New habit: Work with your team to determine whether a meeting is necessary. Then, skip or cancel it if there isn’t anything relevant to cover.

  • Answering emails in order of receipt. Many project managers answer emails in the order they were received to reply in a timely fashion. Timely communication is important, but not every email requires an immediate response. New habit: Set specific times in your day to respond to emails. Review all new emails and prioritize responding to them based on their urgency and importance. (Give people another communication method for emergencies.)

  • Getting administrative tasks out of the way. Everyone has administrative tasks to do and seeing them on our desks can be annoying. (This is so me!)  Many people will finish these low-priority tasks up front, so they aren’t nagged by the piles of paperwork. Most of the time, you can postpone these activities until things calm down. New habit: Set aside time in your schedule when it’s usually quiet to handle your admin tasks.

  • Worrying about non-critical-path tasks. Keeping the project schedule on track is important. But you don’t have to scrutinize every task in your project. Don’t get distracted by issues with tasks that aren’t on the critical path. Instead, focus on critical tasks – the ones that affect your project timeline. New habit: Focus on critical path tasks and tasks with very little slack. Leave the management of other tasks to your team members.

  • Wasting time on time-consuming reporting processes.  Reporting is important — and time-consuming. You can streamline reporting, but that usually takes time. So what? Take the time to automate or delegate reporting. You’ll recoup it many times over during your project management career. New habit: Spend time up front to streamline reporting. Consider restructuring your project reports to make them easier to create.

  • Wasting time on any process. Just like reporting, there are lots of project management activities that are important, but chew through your workday. Think about ways to perform these tasks more efficiently. Prioritize them by how much time you can save. Then, spend some time each week making your efforts more productive: build templates, implement new tools, harness AI, and so on. New habit: Set aside some time each week to work on ways to make your work more productive.

  • Interrupting your focus by answering the phone. Phone calls interrupt your work and distract you. But they aren’t necessarily important or urgent. Don’t answer the phone unless you know it’s important. New habit: Don’t answer the phone unless you’re expecting the call. Set up a communication method (I recommend texting) for immediate and important communication. Commit to answering other forms of communication within a specific timeframe, such as 24 or 48 hours.

Do you have habits that you know aren’t effective? Do you have ideas for how to focus on what’s important? What is the one thing you could do differently that would help you focus on what’s truly important? Share with us in the comments section.

For more about being effective, check out Dave Crenshaw’s Time Management Fundamentals course. Or look at Chris Croft’s Five Ways to Control Your Time course.

Coming Up

Marlene Chism is an expert in conflict, anger management, working with difficult people, and having difficult conversations – things most of us want to avoid. Despite the tough topics, she’s a truly lovely person. In this LinkedIn Learning Office Hours, we’re going to dig into some of the concepts she teaches for dealing with conflict. We’ll spend the rest of the session providing practical advice for dealing with conflict and other difficult situations. Bring your questions about the conflict you need help with, and we’ll provide advice for as many as we can fit in!I hope you will join us on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 11am MT, 1 PM ET for this no-nonsense, advice-packed session on dealing with conflict with composure.

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 57,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Acronyms for Project Managers

/in /by

If you use social media to manage your projects, why not reduce your typing with a set of project management acronyms? Bob McGannon and I decided to jump start the list with these (mostly) tongue-in-cheek acronyms. If you have suggestions to add to this list, share them in the comments!

SOS – Sponsor Over Shoulder – Can’t share truthfully in this message. 

Example: Talk later, SOS.

DT – Disappearing Team member – The issue that arises when team members’ work gets reprioritized, and your schedule suffers.

Example: My head hurts. My schedule has the DTs.

MIA – Methodology in Advance – Choosing the methodology to deliver a project before understanding what the project is for or what its outcomes are supposed to be.

Example: We’ve decided the MIA, so fingers crossed that it will work. 

RSAP – Ready Shoot Aim Project – Project deliverables were defined before needs were identified, understood, or confirmed. 

Example: It’s an RSAP. The stakeholders will never fund this!

LOL – Lousy Outcome Limit – The project’s performance has reached the point that it will definitely be cancelled. 

Example: We’re at LOL. I’m looking for a new job!

BTW – Behind Task Waffling – A string of excuses for why a task is behind schedule.

Example: That team gives me no deliverables, just BTW.

ASSER – Assuming Requirements – The requirements aren’t sufficient because the project team assume they know what stakeholders need.

Example: Our requirements are nothing but ASSER.

DITY – Do It to Yourself – Moving forward with a project despite knowing that fatal issues exist.

Example: It’s a DITY. This project won’t be pretty!

IOB – Incredibly Obscure Benefit. A questionable business justification for moving forward with a project. (Related to the essence of political campaign advertising)

Example: It’s an IOB business case. We’ll never deliver those outcomes!

FAQ – Frequently Altered Quality – Repeatedly watered-down quality levels from the original level as the project progresses.

Example: We keep FAQing this project, so we’re going to end up with a Dollar Store-quality product.

Stat-they – Status of They (Versus stat-us) – The make-believe status that key stakeholders (they) want you to share versus the accurate statUS that the project team reports.

Example: We gave them our status, but they really wanted a STAT-THEY.

UNCLES – Unrealistic Constraints Leaving Everyone Stumped – Project constraints that are unrealistic but senior management won’t change them.

Example: This project’s impractical and plagued with UNCLES.

OMG – Overly Modified Goals – Changing the project’s success criteria to keep it going despite diminished outcomes.

Example: OMG is the only reason this project is still alive.

SHOT – Sponsor Hung Out To-Dry – When politics or a powerful key stakeholder commandeers your project and sends it in a totally ludicrous direction.

Example: I have a sponsor, but he is SHOT.

POV – Point of Variance – The degree of variance from plan that can best be described as “This is when the screaming started.”

Example: We hit our POV, and the management review turned into a shouting match.

WARNS – Warnings Repeated with No Support – Sharing the reality of the project that management just won’t accept (or can’t handle), 

Example: I’ve tried WARNS, but management isn’t listening!

SPOC – Singular Point of Crisis – Your project’s point of no return. (Similar to LOL.)

Example: We’ll never deliver this; we’ve hit our SPOC.

TBA – To Be Admonished – The penalty project managers receive for trying to tell the truth.

Example: Management isn’t helping. They’re planning to TBA me.

TGIF – Thank Goodness It’s Finalized – The cheer a project manager shouts when they mistakenly believe project planning is finished.

Example: I yelled TGIF, but then reality hit.

CRISP – Crisis Right Inside Simple Project – When a project looks simple but has hidden complexities.

Example: I thought this project would be easy, but now I’m in  CRISP.

WTF – Wobbly Time Forecast – Very questionable estimate for completion of a critical task.

Example: My project schedule is a mess, its full of WTFs.

WOAA – When Objectives are Achieved – The surprised exclamation the team shouts when project objectives are achieved. 

Example: WOAA, we got an award!

GOFWOP – Going Forward Without a Plan – When insufficient planning will doom a project. 

Example: Management is in a hurry. This project will definitely GOFWOP.

STAIN – Stakeholder indecision – Sponsor and stakeholders don’t make decisions and delay project progress.

Example: Our project status is STAINed. We’re twiddling our thumbs until the stakeholders make up their minds.

SWAG-E – Somehow, we are gainfully employed.

Example: This project is a mess, but at least we’re SWAG-E.

Coming Up

Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter. I’m happy to know that you have found it helpful and enjoy seeing your comments and questions.
I am taking a short break, so this is my last article for 2023. My articles will resume the week of January 8th, 2024. The end of the year is a great time for renewal, so I hope you enjoy this time and start 2024 with energy, motivation, and enthusiasm!

 

Marlene Chism is an expert in conflict, anger management, working with difficult people, and having difficult conversations – things most of us want to avoid. Despite the tough topics, she’s a truly lovely person. In this LinkedIn Learning Office Hours, we’re going to dig into some of the concepts she teaches for dealing with conflict. We’ll spend the rest of the session providing practical advice for dealing with conflict and other difficult situations. Bring your questions about the conflict you need help with, and we’ll provide advice for as many as we can fit in!I hope you will join us on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 11am MT, 1 PM ET for this no-nonsense, advice-packed session on dealing with conflict with composure.

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 55,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

 

Warning Signs that Your Project Schedule Isn’t Feasible

/in /by

As a project manager, you must be able to recognize that your project schedule isn’t feasible. That way, you can proactively address issues, mitigate risks, and increase the likelihood of project success. Here are common warning signs that your project schedule needs work.

  • Building and sharing a schedule before scope definition is stable. When project objectives and scope are still in flux, a schedule is nothing more than a rough guess. Teams may be anxious to get to work, but it’s too soon to share a schedule if scope continues to change. This schedule will mislead people about when deliverables will be available. It also makes life miserable for the managers who allocate people to the project, because they have to replan staffing for the viable schedule when it’s available. Best practice: Ensure your scope is stable before distributing a schedule.

  • The schedule depends on heavy workloads. Team members often juggle multiple tasks on a project. And many have day-to-day business support responsibilities that aren’t tracked by the project. This combination can produce an excessive workload for a team member, which leads to burnout, decreased productivity, and increased risk of errors. Best practice: Understand the percentage of time each team member can dedicate to the project and schedule accordingly.

  • The schedule doesn’t consider competing priorities. The most critical project team members often deal with competing priorities (in addition to day-to-day bustiness duties), such as working on other projects, resolving business issues, reviewing project change requests, and taking on work delegated from their managers. These other duties take time and can affect the person’s availability on your project. Talk through what your crucial team members do in the organization and allocate their time to project tasks with this in mind.

  • The schedule was built on unrealistic estimates. Overly optimistic estimates plague a lot of project schedules, which means trouble. The uniqueness of project work makes it difficult to estimate. Plus, people might not be trained on estimation techniques. One way to improve estimates is to use PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) estimation. Estimators provide three estimates for a task: optimistic (O), most likely (ML), and pessimistic (P). People don’t pull these numbers out of the air. They think about the work and consider what might happen (good and bad. This analysis improves the accuracy of the estimate. The typical formula for calculating PERT estimates is: (O+(4*ML)+P)/6.

  • Note: There is another way to improve estimates. Get into the habit of comparing final actual effort to your original estimates. These comparisons help project team members understand what happens in projects and how much effort different types of tasks take.

  • Stakeholder managers don’t buy into the schedule. Managers who allocate their people to a project have a big impact on the project schedule. If managers don’t think the schedule is realistic, they aren’t likely to allocate their people to work on the project. Review your project schedule with the managers whose people are needed for the project. Make sure they have bought into the schedule and the project outcomes.

Have your schedules suffered from gotchas I haven’t mentioned? Do you regularly look for other warning signs on your schedules? If so, share with us in the comments section.

For more about project scheduling, check out my Project Management Foundations: Schedules course.

Coming Up

Marlene Chism is an expert in conflict, anger management, working with difficult people, and having difficult conversations – things most of us want to avoid. Despite the tough topics, she’s a truly lovely person. In this LinkedIn Learning Office Hours, we’re going to dig into some of the concepts she teaches for dealing with conflict. We’ll spend the rest of the session providing practical advice for dealing with conflict and other difficult situations. Bring your questions about the conflict you need help with, and we’ll provide advice for as many as we can fit in!I hope you will join us on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, 11am MT, 1 PM ET for this no-nonsense, advice-packed session on dealing with conflict with composure.

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 55,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

Tips for Handling a Phony Scope Item Owner

/in /by

Tips for Handling a Phony Scope Item OwnerA recent Project Pointer talked about controlling project scope by confirming that each scope item has a true owner behind it. That is, someone who understands the business processes related to their scope items, has funding for it, and has time to work with the project team to realize its benefits. But what do you do if a powerful senior leader is pushing scope, but isn’t its true owner? Here are a few tips if you find yourself in this situation. 

  • Ask your sponsor for help. Scope ownership is the responsibility of the project sponsor or product owner — project managers oversee managing scope. The sponsor should handle challenges or questions about new proposed scope. You can also run proposed scope through your change management process. Either way, the scope request and its ownership should be scrutinized. When the sponsor or change control board decide on the proposed scope, be sure to define and document its impact on the project. Then integrate this impact into your project management deliverables, including the cost, schedule, and risk plan.
  • Find additional stakeholder(s) with similar interests. Business processes rarely involve only one area of the business. So, process improvements might benefit more than one senior stakeholder. If you’re struggling with a scope owner, look for another stakeholder who’s interested in the proposed scope. Two stakeholders might be able to fulfill all the scope ownership criteria. Note: Make sure the stakeholders are willing to work together before keeping the scope item in your project.
  • Consider a different business justification. A proposed scope item might have business merit, but the explicit income or cost savings isn’t there, or it’s theoretical to calculate. In this case, think about a different way to justify the scope. For example, risk reduction could justify scope items. A friend of mine just upgraded his mobile phone. He didn’t upgrade because it was broken or because he’s a new tech geek. His phone wasn’t compatible with new versions of the operating system. He justified the purchase so he could keep the operating system up to date and reduce the risk of data security breaches.
  • Determine if delegation can support the proposed scope. Sometimes, the issue with scope ownership isn’t funding but with business process knowledge or time to support the effort. In this case, the answer might be to delegate scope management responsibilities to someone with the requisite knowledge and time. This approach presents a significant risk: that the person who delegated authority overrules decisions that the delegate makes. This can negatively affect the project schedule and cost. Try to ensure that the delegate’s authority is “veto-proof”, so their decisions won’t be overturned. This way, you can move the project forward with confidence.

Do you have other tips for ensuring that scope items are represented by true owners who can fulfill their ownership duties? Or do you have questions about a specific situation you’ve encountered? Share with us in the comments section.

For more about scope, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

Coming Up

Anna Lung’aho Anderson and I get so many questions from people who want to transition into a career in project management. In this LinkedIn Learning Office Hours, we’re going to dig deep into the work YOU have to do to move into project management. Yes, it does require some effort on your part. We will talk about how to figure out if project management is a good fit for you; learning project management hard skills and terminology; how to update your resume, LinkedIn profile, and approach to networking; and finally, how to research companies you apply to so you have a better chance of getting their attention. We’re also going to explore how to move into project management from non-traditional backgrounds, such as sales, real estate, customer service, nursing, and (fill in your current role here).

I am really excited about this event because Anna provides many more services and resources related to project management careers than I do: Career Development Coaching, Resume Writing, Interview Preparation, Negotiation, Resume Review, Change Management, Executive Coaching, and Leadership Development. I hope you will join us on Friday, December 8, 2023, 11am MT, 12 PM CT for this deep dive into the first steps to moving into a project management career.

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 54,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________

 

You Know They’re the Scope Owner If…

/in /by

You Know They’re the Scope Owner If…When project ideas flow freely, it’s challenging to manage scope. One sure way to keep scope in line is to evaluate whether the owner of each scope item is the true owner. If they aren’t and you can’t find the true owner, you can remove that scope item from the project. Here’s how to tell if someone is the true owner of a scope item:

  • True owners supply funding. The true owner will fund the development of their scope item and can increase the funding (within business case parameters) if the cost of delivering that scope increases. The true owner can defend the priority of their scope against other people’s scope. If they can’t do either of these, they aren’t really the owner.

  • True owners can provide capable resources for requirements, verification, and implementation of scope items. If they provide new or lower-level resources, they might not be the owner. Delays in getting resources could mean other scope items have higher priority. If there are resource delays, re-evaluate whether the scope item is actually out of scope.

  • True owners can make decisions about the scope. They can make decisions about how to build and implement the scope item. Others may be involved in decision-making, but the true owner has the final say. They need to understand the current business processes as well as how those processes will change when the project deliverables are implemented. When scope decisions affect others, the owner is able to resolve stakeholder conflicts by consulting with and influencing others about the scope in question.

  • True owners have time to support the project. True owners make time to support the project effort to handle questions and issues. They are able to participate so they won’t delay the schedule.

In the next newsletter article, we’ll look at what to do if a senior leader is pushing scope but doesn’t fit the criteria of scope owner.

Have you encountered scope that seems to be orphaned without an owner? Or someone promoting scope that doesn’t seem to fit the project goal and objectives? Would these criteria have helped you figure out whether the items were in or out of scope? Share with us in the comments section.

For more about defining scope, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

Coming Up

Anna Lung’aho Anderson and I get so many questions from people who want to transition into a career in project management. In this LinkedIn Learning Office Hours, we’re going to dig deep into the work YOU have to do to move into project management. Yes, it does require some effort on your part. We will talk about how to figure out if project management is a good fit for you; learning project management hard skills and terminology; how to update your resume, LinkedIn profile, and approach to networking; and finally, how to research companies you apply to so you have a better chance of getting their attention. We’re also going to explore how to move into project management from non-traditional backgrounds, such as sales, real estate, customer service, nursing, and (fill in your current role here).

I am really excited about this event because Anna provides many more services and resources related to project management careers than I do: Career Development Coaching, Resume Writing, Interview Preparation, Negotiation, Resume Review, Change Management, Executive Coaching, and Leadership Development. I hope you will join us on Friday, December 8, 2023, 11am MT, 12 PM CT for this deep dive into the first steps to moving into a project management career.

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 54,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

_______________________________________