Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Project Objectives: An Addendum

A few weeks ago a fellow PM, blogger, and tweeter to the Project Managers on Twitter group (Josh Nankivel) posted an interesting and thoughtful piece called "Project Objectives and Deliverables" on his blog (pmStudent).

First a little about Josh. The word "student" in the blog title describes the intended audience, not his qualifications.

..is the founder of pmStudent.com, a site dedicated to helping new and aspiring project managers succeed. He is a project manager and contractor for the ground system of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, a joint project between the USGS and NASA. Josh's academic background includes a BS in Project Management and holds the PMP certification.

In this piece, Josh establishes a relationship between project objectives, deliverables, and activities: Objectives >> External Deliverables >> Internal Deliverables >> Activities. It is the response to this from readers that is most interesting.

There is, apparently, a bit of misunderstanding around the concepts of objectives, deliverables, and the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) within the community of project management practitioners. The comments following the post are worth reading for context as is the piece by Josh that started the discussion: Here.

You may have read my response in the comments if you followed that link but if not, it is posted below. A fairly succinct, straight-up description of project objectives that holds true in Agile teams as well as other contexts. I've added an addendum as well.


Objectives (project objectives, in this case) are concise statements that define what the project will achieve. They are written in business terms. I like the SMART approach - Specific, Measurable, Attainable/Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

If you can’t get a sense of the deliverable(s) needed to achieve the objective, it may be written at too high a level. If an objective describes the characteristic(s) of a deliverable, it may be written at too granular a level. If the statement describes features or functions, it is a requirement, not an objective.

Objectives are important for three major reasons.

1. They are in business terms. Once they are approved, they represent an agreement between the project manager and the project sponsor (and other major stakeholders) on the main purpose of the project. The specific deliverables of an IT project, for instance, may or may not make sense to the project sponsor. However, the objectives should be written in a way that they are understandable by all of the project stakeholders.

2. They help frame the project. If you know the project objectives, you can determine the deliverables needed to achieve the objectives. This in turn helps nail down the overall project scope, helps you identify risks and allows you to provide estimates on effort, duration and cost. Once the project starts, you can validate that all of the work that you are performing will ultimately help you achieve one or more project objectives.

3. They help you declare success. At the end of the project, you should be able to talk to your sponsor to determine whether everything expected in the project objectives has, in fact, been achieved. If all of the objectives were not fully met, you may still be able to declare partial success.

The project objectives should be defined and agreed upon before the project starts. The deliverables of the project are created based on the objectives - not the other way around. That is, you don’t agree on the deliverables first and then establish objectives to match. You must understand the objectives of a project and then determine the deliverables that are needed to achieve them. You would then structure the entire project to meet the project objectives.


Addendum


It is worthwhile noting that objectives, during a project lifecycle, can and do change -- usually through an evolutionary process based on refinement or new knowledge. In addition, internal business or external market conditions may change as well, forcing a re-evaluation of project objectives. A change in objective(s), however, is not as common as other types of change in a project.

If objectives do change, it is a different level of change than, for example, a requirement or user story change modifying a deliverable. Deleting, adding, or significantly modifying a project objective usually means a wholesale, major change in direction for a project. This, among others, is one reason getting objectives right from the start is so critical.

For example, here is a hypothetical project objective or goal: "The percentage of web site visitors converted to paying customers will increase 30% by end of year.

If the percentage within the objective changes significantly, the time limit increases or decreases, or the objective is eliminated entirely during the course of the project , the impact to user stories and deliverables could be quite dramatic.

If objectives are clear and understood, project priorities can be set clearly and intelligently as well. The more a group (team) really understands what their purpose is, the more clearly they can see the way forward. Objectives are critical to self-direction.

Posted by: William W. (Woody) Williams

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

Quotes from the Boss



Project sponsor commenting on results from GUI design session, "I guess with enough practice, any interface is intuitive."


"You get the guys started coding. I'll go find out what the client wants." ~ VP to Project Mangager


"Teamwork is a lot of people doing exactly what I say." ~The Boss

Program Manager and VP discussing potential projects.

VP: "This is a good concept and there's a huge value proposition to it. Unfortunately, we looked at doing the same thing last but decided not to fund the effort."

PM: "Really? That's interesting: Why did you kill the project?"

VP: "Well... we decided it was too hard."

PM: [pause] "This project means millions in ROI and about the same in cost savings. We're not doing it because it's hard?"

VP: [pause] "Yes."

PM: "Should we rethink that?"

VP: "No. It's too hard."


"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981


Programmer: "This design isn't going to work. We were wrong in our assumptions and we can't deliver it."

Manager: "What will it take to change the project documentation and make it read like we knew this from the start?"



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Twitter Expectations

Twitter Expectations: What to expect from @threew

The Tweets

I begin most days reviewing the thoughts of others as well as my own experiences in the process of energizing and motivating myself for the work to come. The habit of positive thought and creative reflection is one of long standing... What's new in the mix is Twitter.

Twitter has become an important a tool to help distill those thoughts... flush out inconsistencies and expose errors. Reducing goals, processes, lessons learned, and insights gained over the course of decades down to succinct statements of less than 140 characters is an exercise leading to clarity and insight. I enjoy it, find it useful... Twitter is a critical part of the daily routine.

While I tend to think most often about project management and software development, process improvement and the processes that lead to improvement are frequent subjects as well.

My interests are varied and numerous; I mentioned a few (above and below) but won't list them all here. I tweet, on the average, anywhere from 6 to 20 times a day during the week; usually less on the weekend. I re-tweet about half as much as I tweet. I also @reply and @DM but not as often as I tweet and re-tweet.

I participate but I won't clog your pipes.

I hope you find these distillations entertaining, informative, and useful if you chose to read them.

The Follow

Typically, I follow people on Twitter because I find them personally or professionally interesting. Sometimes because I think they may prove helpful in some way with problem solving... or potentially so. Other times because of association -- geographic, interest in music, or the like. Conversations with others leads to growth, knowledge, understanding, and the potential for reciprocity.

Typically I find most interesting the thoughts of others offering clarity and insight within the 140 character boundary... on life, work, whatever.

Since I am an IT Project manager primarily involved in software and web development, I have an affinity for those of similar nature, in related endeavors, as well as people and organizations to which project management is a part of the solution. Because I work in PMOs and play a role in IT governance, I have an acute interest in management and governance in addition to PMI, the role of project managers in general, and the processes related to project management. Even though I am "in technology" I am not an uber-geek but I respect and like them.

Most of the time if someone follows me on Twitter I follow them back... but not always. Most of the time people who follow me find me of interest for the same reasons (stated above) that I find others of interest and wish to engage in conversation. That means we have something in common and I'll probably follow... and engage in that conversation.

I am not on Twitter to become someone's "target market" anymore than I have a telephone so sales trolls can more easily ambush me about vinyl siding or vehicle warranties. I also skip commercials on television and throw away junk mail and catalogs without reading. If I want something you sell, I'll find you myself.

It's not about "love," tweeple. Love has nothing to do with selling the newest version of vinyl siding, vehicle warranty, or marketing the "SECRET key to success" website. If you want to "love" me, then quit calling; stop clogging the pipes with your effluvia... kill the infomercials. I won't follow you and, if you persist, will block you and also report you for spam.

I follow a lot of people that once seemed of interest but are no longer in that category. Most of those are internet marketers... some of them really big names with followers in imaginary numbers. The reason that these people lost my interest is because they are repetitive. After a few weeks, I've seen their "message" and nothing new is forthcoming. They drop off the radar pretty quickly.

Advice: Keep it fresh and keep the self-promotional garbage down to near zero. If I want Spam, I can find it in the grocery store.

The No or Un-Follow

I usually do not follow anyone with a profile containing:
  • Protected Updates
  • No posts and thousands of followers
  • No photo or an obvious fake photo
  • No real location (e.g. "somewhere in the world")
  • No real name (unless you are CNN or Apple)
  • No bio, meaningless gibberish in bio, obviously fake bio
  • References to yourself as "funny," "interesting," or "intelligent"
  • Anything remotely resembling pornography
  • Profane or foul language
  • Any of the following buzz words or phrases
    • Guru
    • Network Marketing
    • Affiliate Marketing
    • MLM or Multi-Level Marketing
    • Internet Marketing
    • Work at Home
    • Law of Attracting
    • Personal Branding
    • Psychic
    • SEO
    • FREE
    • Want more followers?
    • The Twitter Trick (or any variant)
    • Fitness and weight loss
    • Slowing/reversing the aging process
    • Debt Reduction
    • Your success is my number one priority (or anything similar)
Anyone who tweets
  • Way too much -- (broadcaster)
  • Way too little -- (lurker)
  • Repetitive content - same tweets over and over (broadcaster, junk)
  • Only URLs (links) without commentary
  • Only self promotional (junk)
  • Consistently boring or inane (junk)
  • Nothing relevant (junk)
  • And never replies (broadcaster)
  • With more than one exclamation point per word
  • About nothing but how to use Twitter
  • Nothing but Re-Tweets (a broadcaster with nothing to say)

Are you on that list?

If so, there should be no surprises (setting expectations here): I will not follow you.

Continual, multiple follow requests: When I received your first follow request, I checked you out. I reviewed your profile, read your recent tweets, and visited your website if you have one listed. I'm looking for reasons to follow you. I do this with all follow requests; I take them seriously.

If I didn't follow you back within 24 hours, it's because there is a good reason... probably one of those listed above. Your second, third, and subsequent attempts (on a daily basis) simply validate my initial conclusion and add an additional reason not to follow. You are now nothing but spam in my inbox.

I will block you. Where appropriate, I will report you for spam, porn, other illegal activity, or violation of the Twitter rules.

Turn your bots off and get real.

Wrap it Up

Some people become upset and irritated that I unfollow or refuse to follow them. That's OK, it's simply justification, in my opinion, that I did the right thing. If increasing your follower count Or "tweets for cash" is more important than conversation, then that is reason enough to avoid you. If something I tweet annoys a follower, if they find me inane or boring, or there's something in my profile they just don't like, I believe they are perfectly justified in unfollowing or not following me as well.

Less, not more, irritation is needed in our lives: Both yours and mine.

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Monday, May 18, 2009

PM Humor: On the Course...

A clergyman, a doctor and a project manager were playing golf together one day and were waiting for a particularly slow group ahead. The project manager exclaimed, "What's with these people? We've been waiting over half and hour! It's a complete disgrace."

The doctor agreed, "They're hopeless, I've never seen such a rabble on a golf course."

The clergyman spotted the approaching greenkeeper and asked him what was going on, "What's happening with that group ahead of us? They're surely too slow and useless to be playing, aren't they?"

The greenkeeper replied, "Oh, yes, that's a group of blind fire-fighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime."

The three golfers fell silent for a moment. The clergyman said, "Oh dear, that's so sad. I shall say some special prayers for them tonight." The doctor added, rather meekly, "That's a good thought. I'll get in touch with an ophthalmic surgeon friend of mine to see if there's anything that can be done for them."

After pondering the situation for a few seconds, the project manager turned to the greenkeeper and asked, "Why can't they play at night?"

Source: http://www.businessballs.com

Posted by: William W. (Woody) Williams

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Friday, May 15, 2009

And Then What?

It is often said that change is inevitable. A friend in the door64 and LinkedIn communities recently posed this question:

"As you know, the real problem is once there are structural changes in an economy or economic system, the "return to normal" never really gets to "normal." Job displacement, under employment, unemployment, regardless of how you say it means that skills are lost to an economy or a region. Then what?"

"Then what" is a really good question in any situation dealing with change -- personal, project, or huge macro shifts in social and governmental areas. Truth of the matter is we cannot forecast all potential outcomes from change -- negative or positive.

This (below) is the response given.

Then What: Change


At risk of seeming both specious and simplistic, the answer to "then what" is "change." And, change comes with both positive and negative effects; unintended consequences as well as known and unknown outcomes.

Disclaimer: The term "change" is used here without political implications. It is simply "change" in the dictionary sense.

The one central fact around change at the macro level is that we humans lack the ability to fully understand or forecast its result. And, that's not from lack of effort or rhetoric. We see change in an historical context with 20/20 hindsight but our vision is blurred as we turn our attention to the future.

Lessons Learned


One lesson from history is that becoming locked in a paradigm while faced with a sea change leads to disaster.

  • The naval defeat of Carthage
  • The British defeat in the American Revolution
  • The antebellum South
  • A lot more

The lesson is that when groups of people -- nations and states as well -- believe with the fierce faith of fanatics and depend entirely for their survival only on solutions or paradigms that worked well in the past, doom is certain; now or later. Change is inevitable and it tramples us unless we face it, learn from it, and move ahead with fresh solutions.

Electric lights put people out of work and changed lives. The steam engine, cotton gin, assembly line, radio and TV, movies, and the PC did as well. Refrigerators, central air and heat, and countless other things - at their inception - put people out of work and disrupted stable lives build on a belief that what worked in the past is "good," will always work, and will always remain "good."

And, that's just not true.

Good and Evil


Change is inevitable but neither all good nor all evil. Change comes fully loaded with both positives and negatives.

"Job displacement, under employment, unemployment...skills lost to an economy or a region" are short-term negative affects of economic change. To the extent that people hold on to the the past and believe the only answer is more of that past, the short-term negative becomes a long-term death sentence.

To the extent that we as a people, we as managers, or we as a government continue to support people affected by change in a manner that continues their reliance on the broken past instead of offering solutions for the new future, we are enablers of continued failure.

It is probably not about "getting those jobs back," or "keeping those skills" as much as it is about creating new jobs, innovation, entrepreneurship, training / retraining in new skills, starting fresh... Telling people the truth about their future including the fact that some of that future is unknown. It takes credibility and transparency in leadership. This is an axiom -- almost a rule -- for anyone managing change.

The invention and use of automobiles shut down equine related businesses. What would have happened if government stepped in as a manager to "control" that situation?

  • Subsidies to blacksmiths, carriage makers, and horse trainers
  • Outlawing auto manufacturing
  • Putting tariffs on the import of automobiles
  • High taxes on the sale and use of automobiles
  • Laws against driving "horseless carriages" down Main Street

Truth and Transition

None of those things stopped the automotive revolution any more than similar measures will stop or "control" the current change cycle -- or any change at any level. If it is inevitable, it can't be stopped but we can sure make the transition easier.

We're better off in the long run telling people the truth about the change especially when jobs and financial futures are at stake. As managers or enablers, we help people accept the fact that change is necessary, celebrate and make possible "fresh starts," give those affected by change the tools and information to handle it well, and move it forward quickly.

Wrap It Up

Another saying is that "People don't resist change, they resist being changed." That means it's personal. The failure of managers at all levels to recognize, and manage to that most personal and instinctual level leads to the most negative of outcomes. It's not that people "take it personally" creating a problem... It is personal and that's part of the solution.


Posted by: William W. (Woody) Williams

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Project Management Tools

Tools are not what make project managers effective or ineffective but they can make us more productive. Tools like MS Project, Project Server, Sharepoint, Primavera, and others are widely used in organizations. Most project managers are familiar with several.

As a resource for project managers and those interested in project management, we are compiling a list of tools suggested by other project managers. They are presented for research and informational purposes, not as a "recommendation" from enweave although each of the tools listed has been suggested to us by a project manager (not the software provider or dealer). Your mileage may vary.

In addition, there are links to some general project management tool resources (other listings) that might be helpful looking for a specific tool or getting a feel for the field.

If you have a favorite, a suggestion, or a notes on a specific application, please leave a comment here or connect with us via Twitter or LinkedIn.

Tools Suggested by Others


http://www.attask.co.uk/
https://www.manymoon.com/misc/help
http://www.project.net/
http://www.ppmstudio.com/index.aspx
http://projectoffice.net/
http://www.mpmm.com/
http://www.seavus.com/
http://www.openworkbench.org/
http://projects.zoho.com/
http://www.huddle.net/
http://www.projectorpsa.com/

General Listings of Tools


Agile Specific - primarily open source
http://www.agile-tools.net/

Scrum Specific - primarily open source
http://www.scrum-breakfast.com/2008/07/directory-of-scrum-management-tools.html

Extensive listing on Wikipedia covering most makes and models:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_project_management_software

Posted by: William W. (Woody) Williams

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Monday, May 11, 2009

Rapid Project Inception

Overview of Agile and specific opportunities for employing Agile methodologies. Good Read.