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February 20, 2016July 1, 2022

66% of IT Projects Fail

Is Britain a nation of slient Christians?

Only one in three software projects will turn out to be successful. According to Standish Group’s 2015 Chaos report, 66% of technology projects (based on the analysis of 50,000 projects worldwide) end in partial or total failure. More surprisingly, these statistics have been the same for the last five years, the report shows. Furthermore, 17% of large IT projects go so badly that they can threaten the very existence of a company.

On Average, Large It Projects Run 45% over Budget and 7% over Time, While Delivering 56% Less Value than Predicted

Despite such failures, huge sums continue to be invested in IT projects and written off. For example the cost of project failure across the European Union was Ã¢”š¬142 billion in 2004.

It Projects Always Come with an Element of Risk, but There Are Huge Gains to Be Had If We Can Just Avoid Some of the Factors That Contribute Frequently to Project Failure

What makes a IT project successful, though?

According to the Standish Group, a successful project is on time, on budget and has satisfactory results (value, user and sponsor satisfaction, and meets target requirements). Other measures of success are widely known and accepted as true such as getting requirements right, providing effective leadership, and having full support and engagement from sponsors and users. Without these, it’s unlikely that any project would succeed.

But there’s more to success than what is widely known and, apparently, rarely followed. To reduce the risk of failure for your tech project, here are six key actions to take on the road to success.

1. Executive Vision and Involvement

Without a Executive Senior Sponsor Its Easy for Projects to Fail with the Organizational Resistance That Accompanies Large Change

Executive involvement is a primary variable in predicting the success of an IT project. Having a leadership team aligned across an organization articulating the purpose, value, and rationale for a project goes a long way towards getting stakeholders and end-users pulling the proverbial rope in the same direction.

2. Have a clear view of scope and timetable

Oftentimes, a tech project flops because its developers fail to plan and rush forward with an idea. However, some project managers plan so meticulously that they end up falling behind and lose momentum. The best approach is somewhere in between.

Interviewing team members, documenting requirements, prioritizing what is “mission critical” versus “nice to have,” getting agreement across stakeholders can feel like a never-ending cycle. As a result, requirement gathering has fallen out of fashion with many organizations in the past few years.

However, the ideal starting point for a successful technology project is to have a set of fundamental requirements with sufficient detail to develop against.

Requirement Gathering Is Labour-intensive and Challenging but Remains the Roadmap and Measuring Stick for Software Projects

This approach allows you to maintain sight of the business benefits as well as engaging stakeholders and responding to their feedback. In combination with a clear business case, a well-defined set of requirements also simplifies design and testing, two areas where projects tend to go sideways.

Ensure that requirements for the project are clearly defined and agreed upon among stakeholders and that you have a way to track, measure, and manage changes in requirements as appropriate during the project.

3. Define how you will deliver

When it comes to delivering a major project, one size does not always fit all. All products are customizable to some degree, so what might have worked in one company may not work in another company.

That being said, why reinvent the wheel if it’s already proven successful? Sometimes it can be more beneficial to use an existing off the shelf solution. Whichever direction you take, choose the delivery mode that works best for your company.

4. Risk Identification and Management

Every project has risk and there are many factors out of your control. People leave the organization, for better or worse, leadership changes, budgets get cut, however, many risks to projects can be mitigated or even eliminated with some forethought and on-going management. For example, do you have the resources you need to deliver the project (resource risk). Are project goals clearly understood and requirements clearly defined (scope risk). Do you have a realistic project plan and timeline (time risk).

Mitigating Risk Is a Combination of Science and Art, and Always a Balancing Process

5. Test your product again and again

A technology project is something that should overall support your business. It should not be something that dictates and forces you to change your operations. If this is happening, you should shift gears and focus on tweaking the technology, rather than lowering expectations and adopting less ideal requirements.

Adequate testing is a must for any tech project. While some features may be fine with automated testing, the best approach is to have a dedicated testing team. Testing activities should mirror those with the development team throughout the project’s lifetime. With thorough testing, a project should deliver with less design flaws or missing requirements.

6. Prioritize simplicity and performance

Developers often leave the external look and feel of a product to the wayside thinking these things are not necessities for the consumer to enjoy. However, user experience is absolutely critical to the success of the project.

Developers must consider things like storage, network requirements, processing speeds and overall performance in order to satisfy the customer. If users are going to have to wait for an extended period to allow information to load, there must be a good reason for the wait, otherwise they won’t return for future products.

Simplification and Improved Efficiency Is What Adds Value

Ultimately, using the product should be a smooth and intuitive experience. Additionally, tools and alternative routes must be placed logically without being intrusive. The process can be complicated, but the finished product should emit simplicity. After all, that’s what makes companies like Apple so successful. Simplification and improved efficiency is what adds value.

February 15, 2016July 1, 2022

A Day in the Life of a Project Manager

Managing Daily Routines: A Day in the Life of a IT Project Manager

We all know that project managers are responsible for managing projects through to completion while remaining on time and within budget, but how exactly do they do it? What does a typical day look like for a project manager?

Here’s a sample of what a typical day might look like for a project manager.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm, Success Comes to Those Who Prepare Well and Put in Effort

8.30 am: Starting the day
After settling in for the day’s activities, it’s time to plan out the day. Start up the computer, email clients, draft team schedules, organize time sheets and create the to-do list.

To-do lists help managers and their teams stay on track. If a manager notices that one team member has yet to deliver an assignment, they can address this issue first thing in the morning; otherwise, delays can build up and affect the project. Likewise, lists help managers see the next course of action for projects.

9:15 am: Time to get moving

Efficiency is a must and there is no time to be wasted in project management. After a quick review of project plans and to-do lists, the manager must be prepared to get his team moving right away.

Round up team members, review the project’s current position and emphasize the next course of action. In order to get the team moving on assignments, strong project managers set deadlines throughout the day.

Morning team meetings are also necessary to make sure each member understands the project and their assignments. It’s also a time to answer any questions for clarity or to get feedback or concerns from individuals.

While daily group meetings can be important, they are not always necessary and can be counter-productive. If the team is on the same page and everyone is ready to tackle the tasks of the day, spend a short period re-grouping so that the team can get on and complete their assignments. There’s no need to spend hours planning and reviewing.

10 am: Meetings, meetings, meetings
More than one project manager will be more than likely in the office and they will all need to work together for the benefit of the programme. This is why meetings with other managers and higher ups are necessary in a project manager’s day.

Meetings allow each project manager to go through the status of their respective projects and to track the weekly schedule and other deadlines. It is also a time to address any business-critical tasks that might come up.

It’s worth considering that only 7% of communication is spoken. The other 93% is made up of tone (38%) and body language (55%). So although facts and figures are easily communicated via email, letter or phone, an actual discussion or negotiation is best handled where you can see the other person and therefore are able to see for yourself what their tone and body have to say on the matter.

10:30 am: Tackling the small stuff
Meetings will be on and off throughout the day for project managers, which is why it’s important to tackle the small tasks in between appointments. Small tasks include wrapping project reports, booking future meetings, answering correspondences with other colleagues, reviewing items and team reports among other things.

It’s also important to schedule post-mortem meetings with the project team to review the success of projects in order to apply any lessons learnt to future projects.

11 am: Project kick-off meeting
When one project ends, another begins, which means it’s time for yet another project kick-off meeting. Kick-off meetings can take on various forms, depending on the type of business. However, they all share the same basic needs.

Every individual involved with the new project should be in attendance and have the latest version of project specifications in written form. As project manager, it might be wise to send this to team members several days before the kick-off meeting to ensure everyone has time to review.

During a kick-off meeting, it’s important to review the overall goals for the project, both commercial and technical details, break down functional requirements, and spend time for discussion and questions. By allowing team members to communicate questions and share ideas, it opens the lines of communication and may bring up potential concerns that might have been missed in the initial planning stages.

Conclude kick-off meetings with a definition of the next steps and be sure individuals are aware of deadlines and their assignments.

11:30 am: Reviewing project specs, budgets and scheduling submissions
Other important tasks to tackle in between meetings include reviewing specifications and budgets and schedules for future projects. If a project begins that day, now would be a good time to apply the finishing touches to the project documentation before presentation and approval.

When it comes to establishing project estimates and budgets, a project manager must bring all of his experience into play in order to create a realistic budget that includes wiggle room for factors such as project complexity, team experience and skill levels, stakeholders involvement, time needed, third-party services needed, and contingency allowances among many other things.

It’s Not Easy to Squeeze in a Lunch Break, but It’s Often Necessary for the Project Managers Health and Sanity

12 pm: Lunch
In the midst of the seeming chaos that is project management, be sure to fuel up for the rest of the day’s work. Lunch is also a great span of time to check in with team members to make sure they are still on target for later-day deadlines.

2 pm: Launching the next project
After digesting lunch, it’s time to launch the next project. Get the whole team ready to go live and present the project to the client and begin testing aspects of the project in a live environment. It’s a time to spot problems and address them and review schedules and deadlines and other project needs.

3 pm: Time for everything else
The final two hours in the office are spent addressing everything else on the project manager’s plate. A project manager must be good at multi-tasking and whatever duties couldn’t be accomplished throughout the day are reserved for the final hours. Most of the time, lower priority tasks are reserved for afternoon hours. These tasks could include project update meetings with various departments, logging finances, reviewing monthly project schedules, approving time sheets, writing weekly reports, sorting purchase orders and communicating with suppliers. There are so many other small to-do list items that project managers are responsible for, but are often overlooked.

Spending Time at the End of the Day as Well as the Beginning to Review and Plan Will Only Help You Succeed as a Project Manager

5 pm: Review the day, plan for tomorrow
Before heading home, review the day’s list and what’s been accomplished. Anything that has been added or was left unfinished should be scheduled for the next day or sometime throughout the week. Reflect on your team’s work and clear the email inbox. Use a filing system that makes sense for you and be ruthless about deleting stuff. The beauty of an empty inbox is a thing to behold. It is calming, peaceful and wonderful.

February 5, 2016July 1, 2022

Why Should I Hire a Project Manager for My Church Project?

Is it worth hiring a project manager when any seemingly knowledgeable pastor or church member might do?

The truth is, project managers can be a valuable asset to any organization. Whereas the average church member who is only familiar with certain tasks might be overwhelmed by the complexity of major organizational assignments, project managers are trained to handle programs with elaborate factors such as high budgets, increased manpower and layers of duties.

An Astounding 97% of Organizations Believe Project Management Is Critical to Business Performance and Organizational Success. (Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers)

On the flip side, some professional bodies disagree, arguing that professionals like pastors, marketers, and accountants are able to manage projects just as well as any project manager with some effort.

Barely over Half (56%) of Project Managers Are Certified (Source: Wrike)

“It’s a raging debate,” said Tony Marks, author of the 20:20 Project Management guide.

“Some industries, such as oil and gas, are hesitant to hire outside project management specialists because they may lack industry knowledge. Instead, these industries prefer to employ technical experts and put them through project management training.”

“The danger is that these people are more likely to get sucked into their comfort zone dealing with the nitty-gritty and technical detail they understand and are fascinated by when they should be managing the project,” said Tony Marks.

In addition to being trained to juggle tasks efficiently, project managers spend an enormous amount of time honing their skills. Much more goes into the craft than obtaining Prince2 or APM certifications.

According to Mike Savage of Thales Training and Consultancy, the International Project Management Association requires its professionals to have at least 15 years of experience and training. The association has four grades from D to A. At the A level, project managers must have a minimum of five years project management experience, five years of program management and five years of portfolio management.

“So to Say That Anyone Can Be a Project Manager Is like Saying Anyone Can Be a Brain Surgeon, Said Savage.”

But just because there are individuals specializing in project management doesn’t mean non-specialists can’t learn the techniques as well. Ian Clarkson of training course provider QA encourages everyone to learn project management practices.

“The skills, leadership, planning and stakeholder engagement techniques are vital to all disciplines,” he said.

“Projects which are run by engineers with project management training are less likely to be successful than the reverse,” said Lloyd’s Register energy program director Roger Clutton. “If there is a lack of technical expertise that will show up in the risk assessment. But a lack of project management skills is much less likely to be detected.”

With that, it seems that the argument on whether or not hiring an outside project management is necessary will continue. But the debate only seems relevant to rival professions as there is projected to be 15 million new project management jobs within the decade. (Source: Project Management Institute).

No matter how you look at it, though, it seems that trained and experienced project managers must be worth their weight in gold.

December 20, 2015July 1, 2022

Top 6 Most Impressive Megaprojects of 2015

Megaprojects are crucial to the future of most cities, states, and individual livelihoods, however, they also attract a lot of public attention because of the substantial impacts they have on communities, environments, and government budgets. The objective of these projects is to unlock higher growth paths for the economy, as such, they require care in the project development process to reduce any possible optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation.

The problem is that these projects often go off the rails, either with regard to budget, time or both.

The risks associated with MegaProjects, those costing 1 billion or more, are well documented. In one influential study, Bent Flyvbjerg, an expert in project management at Oxford’s business school, estimated that nine out of ten go over budget.

The first factor is that the size of a MegaProject can be so large and unique that it is difficult to model the costs and logistics. Another factor is that MegaProjects are backed by governments which are not typically known for their success in budgeting or efficiency.

In today’s post, we’ve identified the Top 6 most impressive MegaProjects of 2015. These MegaProjects will transcend time and continue to bestow wonder upon new generations.

1. Mall of the World, Dubai

Mall of the World in Dubai was announced in July 2014, location in Al Sufouh district, along Sheikh Zayed Road, different from Mohammed bin Rashid City.

Dubai has a very ambitious project on its hands. Dubai’s Mall of the World will have its very own Oxford Street and Broadway. It will also have galleons and waterfalls. However, the most challenging part of this project is that the area will be covered by a giant retractable roof during the summer months and be climate-controlled creating the world’s first temperature controlled city.

Dubai Mall of the World Set to Put Uae Retail ’20 Years Ahead’ of Gulf Region

Launched with a fanfare by the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, it is the first state-sponsored mega-project to emerge from Dubai since the pre-crash bubble. After years of stalled projects the big plans are back and they are more ambitious than ever before.

It is thought the huge construction will attract 180 million visitors a year and developers hope it will secure Dubai’s futures as a tourism hub.

2. Mall of America, Minnesota

The Mall of America (MoA) is a gigantic shopping mall owned by the Triple Five Group and is by far the largest mall in the United States. However, the $325 million expansion of the nation’s largest shopping center is now underway. The project consists of a luxury 342-room hotel, an office tower and more than 50 shops and restaurants. Some 1,000 jobs are expected to be created during the construction phase of the project, and 2,500 permanent jobs from retail, hotel and office operations.

The Triple Five Group, owned by Canada’s Ghermezian family, owns and manages the Mall of America, as well as the West Edmonton Mall. MoA is located in Bloomington, Minnesota (a suburb of the Twin Cities).

3. Zurich North America, Chicago, IL

Rendering of Zurich North America’s new headquarters in the northwest suburbs of Chicago

The $333 million site is currently under construction and will be the largest build-to-suit office project in Chicago. Zurich a north america insurance company headquarters includes a 735,000 square foot building rising to 11 stories at its tallest, shaped something like the letter A resting on its side.

Zurich looked at a multitude of factors and in the end made the decision that investing in a new state of the art regional headquarters would be the right choice. The project is due to be completed late summer of 2016.

4. Dubai World Central Airport

This massive $32 billion structure sent its first commercial jet into the air in late October 2013. The project isn’t scheduled for full completion until 2027 and is expected to become the world’s busiest airport, however, with plenty of other contenders quickly taking shape in Asia and the Middle East, it’s has stiff competition.

Dubai World Central Airport is expected to shuttle 160 million passengers through Dubai every year making it the busiest airport on earth.

5. Bao’an International Terminal 3

Bao’an plays a pivotal role in the Pearl River Delta: It serves both Shenzhen and Hong Kong, via a connecting ferry. Terminal 3 is an expansion project designed by the Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas. The centrepiece of the expansion is a new runway, which is built on a 108,000-foot piece of land reclaimed from the River Delta.

6. Crossrail

Crossrail tunnelling began in 2012 and ended at Farringdon, London in May with the break through of tunnelling machine Victoria. Eight 1,000 tonne tunnelling machines bored 26 miles or 42 km of new 6.2m diameter rail tunnels under London.

London is the fastest growing capital city in Europe and today it is home to 8.6 million people with the population expected to reach 10 million by 2030. TfL’s work is critical to supporting the continued growth and regeneration of London.

As we reflect upon these impressive feats by mankind, we can only imagine what the next big wonder will be. Is it the secretive Nicaragua canal? Could it be Elon Musk’s proposed Hyperloop concept? Or perhaps it will be a new state of the art high speed train developed by China, USA or the UK?

Did we miss one? Please let us know by commenting below.

November 21, 2015July 1, 2022

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Requirements Management

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Agile Methodologies

Most project managers know the importance of requirements management. Without a solid foundation and grounding in the subject, requirements management quickly turns towards the complex and difficult side.

Why Manage Requirements?

In the final analysis, all projects are completely driven by requirements. Requirements are usually not cast in stone. Stakeholders gather insights and more knowledge of their true needs with time. This means that they can change their minds about requirements, no matter how late in the game. Requirements should therefore be managed proactively in anticipation of change.

However, if requirement definitions are not set up properly in the first place, expect that the quality of delivery will suffer, along with more schedule delays than imagined, and a big drain on the budget.

Broad project requirements help to establish a baseline for objectives. Subsequent change requests would thus require approval by the right authority; a change control board is usually set up to investigate and approve changes to requirements. The objective of baselining is not to prevent or discourage changes, but to ensure that approved changes are relevant and deserve the priorities assigned to them.

The simplest way for project managers to reduce the probability of missing critical requirements is to hold requirements review sessions to ensure that stakeholders understand the requirements and that any ambiguities, inconsistencies and omissions are identified and addressed to facilitate requirements approval or sign-off.

However, when inaccurate requirements are in play, team members end up reworking those activities multiple times. The only sensible course of action is to deliver requirements up front in an accurate manner. That way team members will be able to immediately identify any missing components early in the project lifecycle.

It’s vitally important to employ tools designed to assess requirement quality at the beginning of the project. These tools will help to identify any requirements that are vague or missing early enough to improve the changes of success for the project. Even simple tools like guidelines and checklists can solve major problems later on. You may also consider automated tools, depending on your level of technical expertise.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Requirements Management

Good Requirements

Requirements that meet the “good” standard are ones that anyone can easily evaluate to quickly and clearly determine that all the needs have been accurately met by the project.

The common criteria used by project teams to properly evaluate requirements is as follows:

Verifiable: Ensure that all deliverables are able to be evaluated to ensure they have met all necessary requirements. Verification techniques such as modelling, analysis, review by experts, simulations, and demonstrations or testing.

Testable: Requirements are able to be assessed using the most basic of all criteria. This includes quantitative measurement like “pass or fail.”

Traceable: Requirements should be tagged to specific sources. Examples are compliance requirements, best practices, industry standards, and use cases.

Clarity: All statements should be presented in unambiguous ways so the cannot be interpreted differently by different team members.

Bad Requirements

Bad requirements are marked by their incompleteness and lack of clarity. They are hard to understand and implement. They generally possess these characteristics:

Inconsistency: Without clarity, you’ll find requirements that are in conflict with other requirements! This is very frustrating because there’s no way that either one will ever be satisfied.

Non-valid: These are requirements that team members simply cannot understand. They will never be able to accurately assess or approve non-valid requirements.

Non-ranked: These requirements have not been correctly prioritised. Without proper ranking, it’s difficult for team members to be able to assess them properly.

The risk to the project not meeting the clients expectations is not something that will ever be entirely removed. However, having a specific criteria upon which to benchmark a project is a great way to reduce this risk.

Risks fall into two main categories. Systemic risk is inherent to the nature of the work and cannot be avoided. The non-systemic risk is a bit different and relates from the activities in the project itself. One of the greatest of all non-systemic risks is that of bad requirements management.

Teams that wish to reduce the risk of the project not meeting the clients expectations substantially are best served by establishing specific requirements in the initial stages. Common goals like being “on time and on budget” while maintaining a high level of quality will require dedication from teams members who have eliminated as much non-systemic risk as possible.

When you’re next involved in a project where requirements come up in a discussion, always pay careful attention to the good, the bad, and the ugly that could result without proper due care and attention.

November 3, 2015July 1, 2022

Top 10 Project Management Myths Debunked

Since the dawn of time, mankind has used myths to make sense of the uncertainty that surrounds us. In the early 1990s a lot of people believed that project management was the best kept secret in business. However, because project management was not seen as a prevailing profession at that time, it suffered from a lack of awareness which was in a sense, a double edged sword. Those who were knowledgeable in the practice of project management became extreamly valuable to organisations and pioneers for the profession.

These early adopters were able to convince organisations that project management practitioners were needed. Myths around project management began to form in the business community and as the role of the project manager was unclear, questions were raised as to what project management was and what it could offer organisations.

The definition of the word myth is a “widely held, but false belief or idea.” Here, we’re going to examine 10 of the most pervasive PM myths that have emerged.

Myth #1 – Contingency pool is redundant

This is one of the most ‘mythical’ myths that has plagued the industry for a long time. Coupled with the tendency to presume that ‘real work’ is tantamount to implementation or building something concrete and you have the perfect recipe for project disaster. The thought pattern behind this approach typically originates from budget constraints and/or having unrealistic expectations. As we all know, or should know, the unexpected happens quite regularly. An effective contingency plan is important as it aims to protect that which has value (e.g., data), prevent or minimise disruption (e.g., product lifecycle), and provide post-event feedback for analysis (e.g., how did we fare? did we allocate funds correctly?).

Myth #2 – Project Management software is too expensive

If your idea of project management software involves purchasing servers, and purchasing a software application from a major vendor for a small practice with 10 practitioners then, yes, it is too expensive. If, however, you have gone cloud and elected to use a powerful web-based project management solution (such as Smartsheet), then you are likely to save thousands of pounds while reaping the benefits of a pay-as-you-go price structure. The present, and future, lie in cloud solutions that provide equal, or superior, functionality at a fraction of the cost.

Myth #3 – Project Management methodologies will slow us down

Project managers have a reputation of using process-intensive methodologies that favour ideology over pragmatism. In some instances this may, indeed, be the case when there is a mismatch between a specific project management approach and the organisation’s acutall needs (e.g., a process-driven method, such as PRINCE2, may not be appropriate for a slightly chaotic environment that favours an adaptive approach, such as Scrum). So, in sum, put down the paint roller (“Project Management isn’t for us!”) and take out your fine-bristled brush (“The Critical-Chain method may not be our cup of tea, but Agile on the other hand”¦”).

Myth #4 – Facts and figures are more important than feelings and perceptions

While facts are very important, projects are often derailed and sabotaged because of false perceptions. The PM must pay attention to both fact and fiction to navigate through turbulent organisational change.

Myth #5 – Project managers need to be detail oriented and not strategic in nature

While it is of the utmost importance for the project manager to understand how to read the details of the project, they must also understand how the project supports organisational objectives. Having a strategic perspective adds great value to the skill-set of the project manager.

Myth #6 Rely on the experts in everything that you do

It is true, we do need to rely on the experts but our trust can not be a blind faith. The job of the project managers in this area is twofold. First we must extract information and second we must verify that the information is accurate. A good example of this is asking a planner to provide an estimate on the effort required to perform a task. In some instances team members forget to include tasks which ultimately results in a faulty estimate.

Myth #7 All the battles have to be fought and won so that we can succeed

Project managers sometimes make the assumption that they need to stand firm to get the job done, however, coming to compromise on a particular issue is often a better course of action in order to win the war.

Myth #8 Project Managers can wear multiple hats

Wearing different hats can be extremely confusing. This is especially true if the project manager is asked to be a business analyst or technical expert on top of serving in their PM role. They end up doing both roles with mediocrity. When we “wear two hats” we essentially tell ourselves that both hats fit on one head at the same time. However, what happens if the demands of two roles conflict and what assurances do we have that we’re managing the inherent conflict of multiple roles and the risks the roles introduce? Sadly, multiple roles become more common as we move up the management hierarchy in an organisation, and that’s exactly where potential conflicts of interest can do the most harm.

Myth #9 Once the risk register is created, it’s full speed ahead

Risk management provides a forward-looking radar. We can use it to scan the uncertain future to reveal things that could affect us, giving us sufficient time to prepare in advance. We can develop contingency plans even for so-called uncontrollable risks, and be ready to deal with likely threats or significant opportunities. Too often, it’s not until a catastrophic event occurs and significantly impacts project progress that ongoing risk reviews are conducted.

Myth #10 Project managers can not be effective in their role unless they have specific technical expertise in the given field that the project falls within

You don’t need to be an engineer to manage a construction project or a IT technician to manage a software development project. All you need is a fundamental understanding with strong PM skills to manage the team. Experience in the field helps but does not guarantee success.

Project management is challenging enough without the myths. The profession has come a long way since the 1990s and some of these myths are fading. However, we still see remnants of them in one form or another. Great projects cut through false assumptions and confusion, allowing their teams to make smart decisions based on reality.

These are just 10 project management myths, what are yours?

October 20, 2015July 1, 2022

The Hard Side of Change Management

Change management is an approach to transition individuals, teams, and organisations to a desired future state. For over three decades, academics, managers, and consultants, realising that transforming organisations is difficult, have avoided the subject.

My Way or the Highway

Major organisational change is profoundly difficult because the structure, culture, and routines of companies often reflect’s persistent and difficult-to-remove ways of working, which are resistant to radical change even as the environment of organisations change.

What started out as a financial buzzword in the early nineties has become fundamental business practice, with executives recognising the need to keep abreast with the competition in a rapidly developing corporate new world.

Navigating change

Globalisation and the constant innovation of technology result in a constantly evolving business environment. There is an ever-increasing need for Change Management Lead’s / Senior Managers who can help organisations successfully navigate change in today’s business environments. The focus of this movement to date has been on how to partner with organisations to define education, training and communication platforms that help to support the change initiatives and concerns of company employees. The critical aspect is a company’s ability to win the buy-in of their organisation’s employees on the change initiative.

While a project team is important for success, a senior level advisor is invaluable and can work with an organisations leadership team to avoid common pitfalls that change management projects often fall into. There are four key areas where an Advisor should act as this resource as follows:

1. Defining A Strategy

Executives should start by asking themselves what exactly needs changing and why? Organisational change directly affects all departments from entry level employees to senior management and must be aligned to a companies strategy. Too many programs are heavy on the jargon and light on the substance. Executives are often sold on an idea only to realise as the change initiative begins that they need a different outcome, tool or process to be successful.

In this situation the strategy for change needs to be re-aligned with the organisation and its goals.

An outside senior advisor with a unique perspective of the organisation will play an important role in helping an executive to explore and shape the strategy they are defining and highlight whether it will truly create the outcomes they desire. This upfront partnership can save money on the back end of a project, by avoiding costly re-scoping of initiatives.This relationship between senior advisor and executive should therefore begin as early as possible in the process.

2. Coalition Building

Its important to give people multiple opportunities to share concerns, ask questions, and offer ideas and to make following up with answers and updates a top priority. Executives must reach out across their functional work streams to build a large cohesive team to support the project once the correct strategy has been set and the urgency for the project has been established. A good senior advisor will be able to guide an executive though these interactions.

As a senior change management professional, it is important that you help leaders of the organisation craft the correct message. While leaders often know what it is they want and see the urgency for themselves, the outside view that a coach provides can support the development of a team around the initiative and help to navigate the strategic and political interests in linking the change to the interest of multiple team members.

The more people are involved in the process, the fewer will be acting as internal saboteurs.

Communication Is Key to Successful Change Management

3. Communication

Don’t confuse process visioning, planning and endless powerpoint presentations with communication.

Change is uncomfortable, and adapting to change is messy. A Gantt chart can not capture the hard side of change management. Why? Because tasks are easy to list, but behaviour and long-held habits are not easy to change. Gather outside information, solicit perspectives, and adapt the approaches for your organisation and group.

The importance of communication within an organisation around the change cannot be underestimated. Executives often fall short on communication in two main areas, not communicating the right message and not communicating it frequently enough across an organisation. It is often thought that everyone else in the organisation is on board and understands the change, however, the reality for an executive is not the reality for another worker who may have lost a job because of a well intended change initiative. A senior advisor can apply consistent pressure to the leader of the change around the need for communication and its messaging.

Quantity Is Fine, but Quality and Consistency Are Crucial

4. Share Relevant Information Quickly

Most CEOs and managers are quoted as saying, “You can’t communicate too much,” Part of the communication will be the support the urgency in messaging. “My way or the highway” is often used, but is not an effective communication strategy. Senior Advisors can work with executives to tailor their message to each area of the organisation in order to define content that is important to them.

A study by Towers Watson shows that “only two-thirds (68%) of senior managers say they are getting the message about the reasons behind major organisational decisions. Below the senior management level, the message dwindles further to (53%) of middle managers and 40% of first-line supervisors understanding reasons behind major organisational change.

The forwarding and cascading of information does not work as consistent communication around the change will be necessary at all levels of the organisation using a variety of communication pathways and vehicles. As a trusted advisor it is important to encourage executives to lead by example in both their messaging and communication of the change agenda.

Only 25% of Change Management Initiatives Are Successful over the Long Term

Maintaining The Change

Many leaders and managers underestimate the length of time required by a change cycle. It is paramount that as the change effort reaches its completion that leaders of the change recognise that the process does not end there. The role of a Senior Advisor will be to guide them to the idea that work must be undertaken to maintain the change over time. Maintaining change does not mean that an executive must own the initiative forever, just that they take the necessary steps to ensure that change has a lasting impact by integrating the change into the corporate culture and measuring the benefits and highlighting areas for future improvements.

The outside unbiased view is that a Change Management Lead is crucial to the success of a change management program.

This article provides food for thought rather than counsel specifically designed to meet the needs of your organisation or situation. Please use it mindfully.

October 18, 2015July 1, 2022

29 Awesome Quotes on Risk Management

If you treat risk management as a part-time job, you might soon find yourself looking for one ’- Deloitte white paper (Putting Risk in the Comfort Zone)
I have learned that nothing is certain except for the need to have strong risk management, a lot of cash, the willingness to invest even when the future is unclear, and great people ’- Jeffrey R. Immelt
Thoughtfully assessing and addressing enterprise risk and placing a high value on corporate transparency can protect the one thing we cannot afford to lose trust ’- Dale E. Jones, vice chairman and partner with Heidrick & Struggles
We have no future because our present is to volatile. Will only have risk management ’- William Gibson
Risk management is a culture, not a cult. It only works if everyone lives it, not if its practiced by a few high priests ’- Tom Wilson
I think the rise of quantitative econometrics and a highly mathematical approach to risk management was the obverse of a decline in interest in financial history ’- Niall Ferguson
There is no doubt that Formula 1 has the best risk management of any sport and any industry in the world ’- Jackie Stewart
Stronger regulation and supervision aimed at problems with underwriting practices and lenders’ risk management would have been a more effective and surgical approach to constraining the housing bubble than a general increase in interest rates ’- Ben Bernanke
If you don’t invest in risk management, it doesnt matter what business you’re in, it’s a risky business ’- Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn
Adventure without risk is Disneyland ’- Douglas Coupland
Risk and time are opposite sides of the same coin, for if there were no tomorrow there would be no risk. Time transforms risk, and the nature of risk is shaped by the time horizon: the future is the playing field ’- Peter Bernstein, Against the Gods
As population susceptibilities are better understood, we will be in a better position than we are in today to make informed decisions about risk management ’- Samuel Wilson
Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash ’- General George Patton
All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger, but calculating risk and acting decisively ’- Niccolo Machiavelli
Total enterprise risk management is critical, but implementing it is both expensive and easier said than done. Even the most sophisticated financial institutions are still basically silo risk managers ’- Danny Klinefelter, Professor and Extension Economist with Texas AgriLife Extension, Texas A&M University
Playing it safe is the riskiest choice we can ever make ’- Sarah Ban
The question of whether or to what extent human activities are causing global warming is not a matter of ideology, let alone of belief. The issue is simply one of risk management ’- Malcolm Turnbull
Business people need to understand the psychology of risk more than the mathematics of risk ’- Paul Gibbons,
Risk comes from not knowing what your doing ’-Warren Buffett
You have to take risks. You will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen ’- Paulo Coelho
Risk is a function of how poorly a strategy will perform if the ‘wrong’ scenario occurs ’- Michael Porter, Competitive Advantage
Risk management should be an enterprisewide exercise and engrained in the business culture of the organisation ’- OSFI Superintendent Julie Dickson, June 1, 2011 (courtesy Ethidex)
Risk is our business ’- Oswald GrÃƒ¼bel, CEO at UBS
When our leaders accept the status quo, we run the risk of disaster ’- Max Bazerman from “Predictable Surprises”
The concept of ‘inherent risk’ is impossible to measure or even define. The idea of looking at risk absent all hard controls, soft controls, or mitigations, provides little or no useful information in most cases ’- Todd Perkins (from Journal of Applied Corporate Finance – volume 19 number 4)
It’s important to take risks but it’s idiotic to take them blindly ’- Terry Levine
Fail to identify the strategic risks and you fail as a business, no matter how well you manage your operational and project risks ’- Keith Baxter
Business as usual is business at risk ’- Deloitte white paper
Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritisation of risks ’- Wikipedia

October 1, 2015July 1, 2022

43 Great Quotes To Inspire You To Be a Better Christian Leader

Anyone who has responsibility for the work of others understands the unique challenges that come with managing people.

Over the years, various thought leaders have come up with pearls of wisdom in the form of quotations that when given some thought, have a lot to teach us. Sometimes a simple quote is just the thing to lift our spirits, to make us smile or to give us the energy to keep going when we’re feeling low.

Here are 43 such quotes to make us better Christian leaders.

“The Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self.” – Unknown
“In most cases being a good boss means hiring talented people and then getting out of their way.” – Unknown
“The good news is, God has provided us with a LifeBook to help us – the Bible.” – Unknown
“Encouragement is the oxygen of the soul.” – John Maxwell
“There’s only two things you can start without a plan: a riot and a family, for everything else you need a plan.” – Unknown
“Rejection is an opportunity for your selection.” – Unknown
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – John Maxwell
“Leadership is getting people to work for you when they are not obligated.” – Fred Price
“Running a project without a work breakdown structure is like going to a strange land without a roadmap” – J Phillips
“You don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader.” – Henry Ford”
“Have a good plan, Execute it violently, Do it today” – General Douglas McArthur
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that is has taken place.” – Unknown
“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill
“A project without a critical path is like a ship without a rudder.” – D. Meyer
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
“What’s measured improves.” – Unknown
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint Exupry 1900-1944, French writer and aviator
“If it is not documented, it doesn’t exist. As long as information is retained in someone’s head, it is vulnerable to loss.” – Unknown
“It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things.” – Machiavelli 1446-1507, Italian statesman and philosopher
“No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra.” – Unknown
“Luck is for the ill-prepared.” – Unknown
“Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand.” – Chinese Proverb
“Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them towards a certain goal.” –Unknown
“PMs are the most creative pros in the world; we have to figure out everything that could go wrong before it does.” – Fredrik Haren
“Why do so many professionals say they are project managing when what they are actually doing is firefighting?” –Unknown
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” –Unknown
“Ensure your documentation is short and sharp and make much more use of people-to-people communication.” –Unknown
“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” – Henry Ford
“Leadership offers an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, no matter what the project.” – Bill Owens
“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.” – John C. Maxwell
“Leaders have two characteristics: first they are going somewhere, and second they are able to persuade other people to go with them.” – John Maxwell
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” – Kenneth Blanchard
“The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.” – Warren Bennis
“The best example of leadership is leadership by example.” – Jerry McClain
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
“The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve.” – John Stott
“We can be tired, weary and emotionally distraught, but after spending time alone with God, we find that He injects into our bodies energy, power and strength.” – Charles F. Stanley
“Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:45
“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” –Unknown
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa
“The greater your knowledge of the goodness and grace of God on your life, the more likely you are to praise Him in the storm.” – Matt Chandler
“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential” – Winston Churchill
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” – John Piper

If you know a great quote or scripture that will inspire others to lead their churches better, please feel free to share it in the comments below.

September 25, 2015July 1, 2022

Why Do Projects Fail?

September 23, 2015July 1, 2022

Hidden Sins of Using Spreadsheets to Manage Projects

September 12, 2015July 1, 2022

2 Ways Residential Elderly Care Providers Can Drive Growth

The care sector is growing fast. People are its most valuable asset and investment in care-home developments is being fuelled by an ageing population and a growing demand for specialist skills.

Scalability and Replication Have Now Become the Building Blocks That Will Enable Residential Elderly Care Providers to Sustain Growth, Deliver Successful Change and Achieve High-quality Service Outcomes

Dean Jones, former Investment Growth Programme Manager for Care UK offers insight into how REC providers can take advantage of market opportunities by building a sustainable and scalable system. Jones’ experience includes programme managing a £250 million investment-growth programme from 2012 to 2015, which involved building and commissioning 20 new state-of-the-art care homes and their services. He also oversaw a £60 million 3-year investment in a Suffolk programme, for the building of 10 new care homes and 10-day clubs and bringing much needed additional nursing and dementia-specialist care to the community.

REC Providers Can Develop Their Own Blueprints to Replicate and Scale Growth

REC providers can learn much from Jones’ involvement with scaling successful care homes. In his work at Care UK, Jones employed innovative ideas for evolving the next generation of care homes and introducing a competitive edge through unique selling points to harness market potential. The trendsetting programmes have led to phenomenal success, with more than 30 new homes built over a five-year period, a level of growth rarely seen in this sector. Jones describes how REC providers can develop their own blueprints to replicate and scale growth.

Building a foundation

The organization relied on a guiding principle as it developed a scalable system. It consisted of a toolkit that would outline how to manage projects and launch new homes, along with the standard of care the organization expected once a home is operational. The first system in the toolkit, the Project Management Blueprint (PMB) consisted of methodologies, processes and systems that would guide the creation of an ambitious and exciting growth pipeline for new homes.

The Blueprint ensured that the programme and project’s team resources would deliver high-quality outcomes through the practice of sound project management, both at a programme and individual project level. However, the Blueprint was just one of three tools the organisation would use to govern the commissioning and operation of new care homes. The other tools, a Home Manager Launch Manual (LM) and a suite of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), complemented the programme on the whole.

Building the Capability to Service the Demand Is the Key to Driving Growth

The blueprint

Creating the demand for growth and the environment for change is not enough to generate scalability. According to Jones, building the capability to service the demand is the key to driving growth. Instead of control, managers need to:

Introduce a framework and certainty about processes.
Implement repeatable best practices.
Build the ability to drive quality.
Equip people to do the best job possible.
Introduce a suite of project documents that directly suit the organisation’s purposes while ensuring consistence use.
Increase efficiency and productivity.

As a result of the Blueprint, Care UK was able to construct the building blocks for scalability and replication that would encourage change, growth and quality outcomes. When the foundation of an organisation is built on highly standardised and formal processes underpinned by highly developed performance-monitoring systems and the ability to control quality, it has a scalable business model. Another component involved in the process, evolving the product offerings through a process of service innovation enabled Care UK to apply standardised business-model concepts.

The requirements

Building a methodology for scalability involves considering project and business requirements first. Then, the organization can develop a system that meets the business and management-style needs to deliver successful outcomes. Jones employed a methodology that outlined the standard project-management methods to be used, and practices and guidelines to follow when managing new-home opening projects and business-transformation projects. With a disciplined, well-managed and consistent methodology, Care UK promoted the delivery of quality products and services, on time and within budget for each location.

The essential benefit of adhering to such a defined project- and programme-management methodology is the ability to demonstrate repeatable successes, rather than learning the same difficult lessons again and again. The objective of the methodology ensures that each new home opening was delivered to the highest possible standards via:

High-quality product or service that adheres to the business case.
Excellent standards of care and service.
Financial performance that achieves or exceeds the business case.
Homes or change initiatives delivered on time.
Projects executed on budget.

Relationships

Effective working relationships are also critical to the success of large-scale projects. Management tactics based on a matrix structure ensure that functional and operational resources are aligned across the business. This approach results in significant advantages, as it enables effective and responsive participation from different parts of the organisation that have specialist expertise. In Jones’ matrix, people from different parts of the business took a lead role in managing a specific work stream and were known as Work Stream Leaders. Jones also adopted the RACI technique for identifying functional areas, key activities and decision points where ambiguities exist.

Project Lifecycle

The management of any large, complex project is made easier when broken down into more manageable chunks. This unique approach to the project’s lifecycle enabled Jones’ to establish clear controls, e.g. review points, or gateways, at which to consider progress before moving on to the next phase. The Care UK project lifecycle methodology consisted of five distinct stages, with each stage considered as a sequence, providing the structure and approach to progressively deliver the required outputs.

Risk and issue management

Focusing on critical risk issues helps programme managers mitigate threats. Regularly planning and leading benefit reviews helps organizations drive success and ensure that profits aren’t eaten up by largely avoidable risks. For example, a slight reduction to a home’s expected average weekly fee (AWF) – although based on a more up-to-date market analysis – could have a detrimental effect on the bottom line. However, if this market analysis re-evaluation were to take place at the pre-planning stages, then the organization has an opportunity to review down spec. Key decisions like these must be managed with due diligence and care, by referring to the original business case and using a clearly defined change-control process, and then directing such matters to the programme board for approval.

Recommendations

Programme managers embarking on a scalability journey should note that before diving into the planning of a system of methodologies and processes, it’s important to first understand what needs to be fixed. Jones began his appointment at Care UK by working with a small team. They spent time getting into the nitty gritty of launching care homes, reviewing checklists, liaising with the Care Quality Commissions (CQC), and understanding the business and identifying gaps. Only then did he present the findings and gain support for the project’s Blueprint. Managers also need to understand the organisational culture in which they operate, and then adapt their approach accordingly. Finally, gaining senior management trust is another critical step, as approval and support helps form links throughout the organization – including the lower-management levels.

Successful organizations need managers with a breadth of knowledge – not necessarily construction management expertise – to successfully drive the outcomes of the project. They also require some understanding of IT systems, staff, marketing strategy and more. Only then will the organisation reap the strategic benefits of higher management-level expertise. With the right approach to project management and creating repeatable systems, care home organizations can seize market conditions and drive growth, while delivering quality outcomes through scalable building blocks.