March 3 issue of eWeek - Jim Rapoza's article on PM software

In the March 3 issue of eWeek, Jim Rapoza reviews some SAAS project management software, and states that "over the years, we've seem many interesting applications that have attempted to bring new methods and processes to project management..." There's more to his introductory generalizations, and I think Jim's point is that MS Project has been so dominant that not much innovation has been successful in the PM software arena.

The article prompted me to e-mail Jim, and to post here and elsewhere on one of my favorite soapboxes: Process before tools. As practitioner and academic in the PM field, I must again state to all that project management starts with development of good and repeatable process and then looks for the appropriate tools to automate and streamline a good process.

A good PM can excellently manage projects with a whiteboard and an abacus. Most PMs I know still consider Excel to be the ultimate PM tool. Many, many people make the mistake of thinking that because they have selected and implemented MS Project (or some other PM software) they are "doing project management."

My point - the article seems to infer that new PM software applications should drive change in the way projects are managed - not so. Good project management practices are independent of software. The software selected should support a PM specialization/practice area or organization's successful processes, not determine or drive them.

Jim's article talks about how one of the new programs (LiquidPlanner, which I really like the look of) addresses project management's general intolerance for uncertainty despite constant experience that the dates and estimates we PMs give with such confidence are in fact given with varying degrees of uncertainty. This is not by choice.

Project management does not generally tolerate uncertainty because the people paying for projects do not tolerate it. The key here is that there are process efforts in place, especially around software development planning, scheduling and control, that emphasize experiential estimating. These new tools seem to support this, but development of good process is still king.

Once project sponsors learn to accept some inherent uncertainty and PM processes evolve to manage and communicate this effectively, then the software can help support and streamline the management process. Software cannot and should not drive the way projects are managed.

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

I'll be presenting "Losing Your Religion" at the Madison/South-Central Wisconsin PMI Chapter's Professional Development Day on April 18. My colleague David Antonioni will be presenting his Stakeholder Management Framework as well, so it will be a reprise of our presentations in Sydney.

I'll be presenting on "Improving Organizational Project Management" April 2 at PMI-Milwaukee. Very kind of PMI-Milwaukee to have me back - they are a great chapter with well-attended meetings.

If you are in the area, look forward to seeing you there.

My paper - PMI Asia-Pacific Global Conference

In case anyone is interested, I've posted the paper I presented at the PMI Global Conference in Sydney last week. Here's the link - it's on my website.

http://www.sdbworks.com/APGC_2008_paper.htm

I'll be delivering this same presentation in April at the Madison, WI PMI Chapter's Professional Development Day. I am currently working on paper and seminar proposals for PMI's 2009 GCs and SeminarsWorld. It would be great to get to another GC as a presenter, or as a seminar presenter.

Day 3 - PMI Asia Pacific Global Conference

For me, the third and final day of the conference started with my own presentation, entitled "Losing Your Religion." This paper and presentation makes observations on the transformation of project manager to line or functional manager, and
considers the changes in attitude, management style and application of project management best practices that often occur when project managers move into line or functional management positions. Several of my new and old colleagues were in attendance, and the presentation went well, if I do say so myself (my colleagues said so, too, so I'll go with it).

I then attended a presentation by award-winning project manager Rohan J. David, PMP entitled "The Context of Project Management - Where Passion Lives." Rohan's presentation outlined several premises and approaches to project planning and execution. Most importantly, he pointed out that great projects entailed great risks, and therefore great passion for the outcome was a necessity for successful completion. Project managers must take that passion for excellence into their work in order to achieve success.

Rohan also outlined some scenarios to consider to ensure that projects were delivering on promises and also to improve on processes. Overall, an interesting presentation.

At lunch was time to connect with new friends and begin saying farewells to new friends, as Derek Walker and Paul Steinfort were headed home to Melbourne. PMI planned plenty of time over lunch and between sessions to ensure that networking opportunities were not cut too short by the need to break up developing conversations and relationships to scurry off to the sessions. This approach clearly worked well given the constant buzz of conversations and chances to meet and talk to project management practitioners and academics.

Both afternoon sessions I attended were focused on project portfolio management, which was my personal mandate for this conference. The first, presented by consultants Alex Brown and Jennifer Tharp, was called "Getting Your Projects Aligned to Strategic Goals." Overall, the presentation did not provide me a lot of new information, but the presentation style and interplay between Alex and Jennifer was great and well thought out. THey did provide a good framework for tracing and ensuring the alignment and confirming execution of strategic portfolios.

Continuing the trend I seemed to experience of "best for last", Michel Thiry and Rod Gozzard's presentation on "Successfully Implementing a Portfolio Management System in a Medium/Large Corporation" was excellent. It was so well-attended that they had to move to a bigger room. Using a case study approach and excellent interplay between them, Michel and Rod took us through a scenario in which an IT director was swamped with competing projects with limited resources and no functioning prioritization system.

Michel and Rod showed how their approach and plan led through a process that prioritized the projects based on their alignment with corporate strategy. Once this was complete, estimation of effort required to complete these projects enabled scheduling based on prioritization and available resources. Projects on the horizon enabled forecasting of resource demand and project throughput. One important point Michel and Rod made was that the foundation for this effort was good project and resource data, particularly resource time entry. This can be a sticking point for many organizations. I still do not understand why many companies and corporate cultures have issues with tracking people's time on project and non-project work for use in measuring project performance and capacity. It's not optional - it's an imperative.

The conference's closing session reminded us of the past 2.5 days and thanked the capable people from the Sydney area and PMI that made the conference happen. About 1000 people attended, making this the most well-attended Asia Pacific conference PMI has had to date. My conference is done - I'll be spending another day in Sydney to see more of the city and visit my company's Sydney office. Hopefully those of you following this have enjoyed reading.

PMI Asia Pacific Global Conference - Day 2

I spent the morning in two good sessions on project portfolio management. The first, delivered by Sandeep Marthur (currently of the Commercial Bank of Australia where he is deeply involved in project portfolio management), discussed the approach used there to manage portfolios and provided a case study in which addition of two strategic projects to a scheduled release of projects within the portfolio was evaluated within the context of that portfolio's goals and constraints.

Sandeep had some interesting points with regard to portfolio management discipline. One striking point was the concept that in most companies, the senior leadership up through the board of directors generally does not know if poor portfolio management strategies or poor project execution is the reason that many firms feel they do not receive the full expected value from their portfolios. His point was that senior leadership may very well focus their energies in the wrong areas, attempting to fix execution when in fact they are selecting poor projects, or worse have no strategy and process for managing the portfolio.

Sandeep spent some time on the PMI portfolio management process groups and also reminded me of the distinction between program management and portfolio management: Program management focuses on executing the projects right, where as portfolio management focuses on ensuring the right projects are being executed.

Sandeep was followed by Stephen Gorfein, a consultant in the field of project and portfolio management with a deep background in aerospace companies, having worked at one point for Howard Hughes. Stephen's discussion of portfolio management was more focused on the executive level processes that need to be in place to ensure effective portfolio management.

Interesting points from Stephen included the concept that portfolio management failures occur at the C-level and generally not due to actions or decisions below this level. Stephan also noted (as did Sandeep) the importance of having enterprise project management systems and data to feed the portfolio management process, noting that much of what is currently in the marketplace is too complex to be usable by many of those who need to develop and manage this type of data.

Following the extended lunch break, I sat through a rather poorly delivered and uninspired presentation on stakeholder management. It looked like the pain was going to end 30 minutes early as the presenter wrapped up, but then she ended with a controversial statement about being motivated solely by reward (versus recognition) at this stage of her career. So instead of getting loose a little early, many in the audience suddely felt compelled to bat this topic around for 20 minutes. Outcomes: Most people think that recognition is at least as important a motivator as reward.

The poor early session was more than offset by SoonKheng Koor's fantastic presentaion on Program Risk Management on Asian High-Profile Mega Project Success Stories. Presented by the Information Technology and Telecommunications Special Interest Group, SK's presetation was high-energy, very humorous, and full of excellent insight into risks that can occur in various areas in large multi-national, multi-cultural projects. He used case study examples from each of five huge airport projects he's worked on since the late 1990's, walking us through the development and resolutions of risk situations from each and how they could be avoided. He closed with insight on how the good program risk manager will never be noticed due to good risk management techniques while the crisis manager will be high-profile, rescuing projects from risks that could have been avoided through better risk management.

The Taste of Australia reception at the Museum of Contemporary Art got us all quickly out of learning mode and into networking and relaxation mode. Located near the Rocks area and with a spectacular view of Sydney Harbour, the Museum served as a great location for a great reception, with what looked like nearly all of the 1000+ attendees at the reception. Conversations with people from around the Asia Pacific region were interspersed by greetings from other Wisconsinites who had somehow found their way here. I followed this with dinner at one of the Rocks great restaurants with my old friends and colleagues Tony Munos and David Antonioni from Wisconsin and the UW System and new friends and colleagues Derek Walker and Paul Steinfort of Melbourne.

As I noted in yesterday's post, the energy level and opportunities for learning here are amazing. The most interesting conversations of my day were with a woman who has spent the last several years in Australia earning her master's degree in project management and then doing project management consulting, but is planning to return to her home in Indonesia to take over her family's businesses in marine logistics, shipbuilding and seaport construction.

The interesting thing here is how her decision to do this is in part motivated by the realization that all of the project management practices she's learned and applied over the last few years can be leveraged to projectize and streamline the various businesses and ventures of her family's company, leading to efficiencies and growth that might not otherwise be possible.

Day 1 - PMI Asia Pacific Global Conference

Much of the morning of Day 1 was spent in registration, speaker orientation and further talks with new colleagues, but after lunch the conference went into session opened by a performance by aboriginal dancers in traditional dress and accompanied by the didgeridoo. By mid-day, jet lag was hitting me so hard I thought seriously of napping in public.

PMI CEO Greg Balestrero opened the proceedings by talking about the power of project management practices in diverse areas from the non-profit sector to BMW's complete re-engineering of engine designs. His point, made both in the speaker orientation session as well as the general opening session, was that project management practices continue to grow and be recognized as a key component of growth and success in all sectors public and private, profit and non-profit.

A thought-provoking statement from Greg: Looking around the room at the assembly of project managers at this conference, know that the ability to successfully deliver any project, anywhere in the world, and to solve any project management problem, is in the room.

The keynote speaker was Robyn Meredith, a senior editor for Forbes magaize and author of a book called The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us. Robyn's talk was interesting, but did not cover any new ground.

In a nutshell: People in developed countries should all be worried about outsourcing both due to potential job loss as well as wage equalization in a global job market; China and India are different and not necessarily what we perceive; the rise of both countries has created a new middle class of consumers that are competing for goods and services and driving up prices; India's infrastructure is shoddy, China is polluted, and the major changes are causing big cultural changes in both countries.

Although the presentation was uninspired, the topic itself is interesting enough that I think I'll read the book.

The afternoon was devoted to focus sessions. The first one I attended was a little rocky, althought the topic was potentially interesting: Relationship Between Project Governance and Project Performance. As it turned out, the presenter is in the early stages of developing a PhD thesis, and so we were given a preview of where the research was headed rather than the outcomes that most in the audience were interested in.

The second session I attended was on the Intersection of Project Success and Leadership. It covered a lot of things most project managers are aware of, as presenter Bill Craddock noted at the outset. The presentation served as a great reminder of these elements and broke some new ground with regard to advancing research on the differing perceptions of project success based on one's role.

Bill Craddock points out that project manager's criteria for success is heavliy tied to the triple contraints, where stakeholders perception is tied to performance and value of the project deliverables. This is a key point in evaluating project coutcomes - I think most project managers recognize that a project can be called a success from the perspective of pure project management metrics, but be considered a failure in terms of delivering value or performance, and vice-versa.

Bill also discussed the varying perceptions and definitions of leadership, and provided the interesting statstic that the number of leadership books for sale on Amazaon.com stacked on top of each other would exceed the height of the imposing SYdney Harbour Bridge over 35 times.

The day ended with the welcoming networking reception - great food, great beverages, and more time to meet new people and greet old friends. My long-time friend and colleague David Antonioni, director of the Project Management Master's Certificate Program at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, was there. David is presenting his new framework for Stakeholder Relationship Management. Other presenters from the U.S. introduced themselves, and it was interesting to share stories on how we all came to attend this particular conference and rejoice in escaping the cold, snow and icy weather many of us in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast have endured this winter.

The atmosphere here is exciting. The project management community in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region is strong and has their own standards and concepts that in many areas go deeper and are more practical than PMI's. The wealth of advanced and terminal degree opportunities from Australian universities also speaks to the way in which project management is considered a vital part of successful business management as well as a key component to higher education in areas such as construction, design, and business.

Live from Sydney - Night 1

Greetings from Sydney, Australia. For a Wisconsin boy who doesn't get out of the country much, this is really, really cool.

I had the pleasure and good fortune to connect with some great people on my first night in Sydney. First was Tony Munos, who I've known for a few years since his days as director of UW-Platteville's Master's Degree in Project Management program and as a participant in one of my courses, is now an adjunct professor of project management at various universities worldwide including University of New South Wales and Univeristy of Wisconin - Platteville. Tony is dedicated educator who has taught project management worldwide.

We met up with Dr. Derek Walker, professor of project management and director of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's project management doctoral program, and his wife Beverly (lecturer in human resource management at Victoria University of Technology specializing in emotional intelligence). Derek is co-author of an exciting new book called Procurement Systems - A Cross Industry Project Management Perspective and also is Journal Editor of the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.

Derek's walkthrough of Procurement Systems - A Cross Industry Project Management Perspective was very intriguing. As project procurement management is a critical component of successful projects in all verticals, this book offers important insights into building value into project procurement planning and execution. It focuses on the role project managers play in the project procurement process and the importance of influencing and making decisions that deliver value to project stakeholders and the organization.

We were also joined by Derek's friend and colleague Paul Steinfort, PMP. Paul is the founder and Managing Director of PSA Project, a project managment consulting firm, and is the immediate past President and a Fellow of the AIPM (Australian Institute of Project Management)(Victorian Chapter). Paul is speaking at the conference about his recent experiences and observations on practice and application of project management in post-disaster scenarios, most notably post-tsunami Indonesia. Paul's presentation should be interesting, as he delves into the key differences between accepted best practices and actual applications of project management in situations where much of the structure often taken for granted is simply not available.

It was both a great pleasure and humbling experience to talk project management and other topics with this group of people who contribute so much to the project management profession from the practice and academic perspectives. Today (Monday here) is the first full day of the conference. In my next post I'll let you know how it goes.