Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Why does everyone think they know how to do my job?

OR "I don't tell you how to declare variables, don't tell me how to quantify schedule risks!"

Rant time! Have you ever noticed that project management is one of those jobs everyone thinks they know how to do? So, I don't tell software developers how to write code, nor do I typically tell my senior managers how to manage (although I've had all their jobs), but I'll regularly get told about where the critical path is, or that my approach to quantifying risks is flawed, or have a group of functional managers looking over my shoulder.

First: In my considerable experience, anytime a non-project manager uses the words "critical path" in a sentence, it is almost guaranteed they've never been in project management or had formal project management training(or they are frustrated aspiring PMs who didn't get the last open PM job).

Next - software developers and creative types hate to be pinned down to commitments to finish tasks, and so when hammering out a schedule, there will always be reasons why the plan you developed is wrong and they will need to redo it for you (instead of writing code).

Lastly, when deep in the throes of developing the latest version of the project plan and schedule, project team members and functional managers alike will pull you aside into earnest meetings on why management's/the team's approach to the project is wrong and will result in disaster (again, instead of making actual progress on their tasks).

My boss says that project management is the hardest job there is, and in some respects he's right! I used to feel mildly guilty about earning what I do for the type of project management work that I do these days, but damn, when I am getting advice, direction or objections from people who all know project management in addition to their own jobs, I earn every penny!

Phillip Diab, MBA, PMP had an interesting blog post recently about PMs getting no respect. In it, he had the following interesting points:

“Management” has to accept some of the responsibility for these challenges. Typically what I’ve seen is that there are contributing factors that cause a lack of respect for PMs and the profession. They stem from:

Lack of understanding what project management is and what the project manager does.
Improper expectations of project managers stemming from the lack of understanding.
Inability to set a clear and communicable strategy and objectives to help drive the organizational projects.
Vagueness in terms of responsibility, accountability, and authority in decision making.
Poor leadership skills in terms of motivating employees and aligning them with proper expectations.


By itself, the PMP certification or other credentials mean little without the braid of experience to back them up. But an experienced PM with a solid PM educational foundation has a real deep bag of tricks to work with, just like an experienced software developer, graphic designer, videographer, etc.

So, if you hire a PMP with a decent resume, consider stepping back and letting her or him do their thing. They might surprise you.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

How do they find the time?

I'm a fan of LinkedIn, to a point... It is great to be able to form connections with people that I've known for years as well as people I met more recently in teaching and speaking. Some of the groups crack me up, though. I recently joined one based on the invite from the founder, who is a prominent member of PMI. I need to revisit my settings, because the posts coming into this thing are frequent and loonnnggg.

As I read these well-developed, lengthy philosophical discourses on whether mid-sized projects and organizations require or should use scaled project management approaches, I ask myself "how do they find the time to write this?" I work at a mid-size company - I'm leading a website development project (redoing the whole site, front to back) within the context of a larger ERP implementation, and I sure don't have time to write paragraphs on methodology in the middle of the workday!

I just joined another group, and the first post I saw was something about "what killed waterfall could kill agile." Hello - Waterfall is not dead, will never die - and neither will Agile. Old project management methodologies never die, they just become less sexy. As project managers, do not get tied to a methodology. If you cannot adapt your approach to fit the project, if you cannot flex to apply the best tactics and strategy to the organizational project context, you are in trouble.

A bright consultant I know, Robert Merrill, said something like "the difference between methodology zealots and terrorists is that you can sometimes negotiate with terrorists." That's funny... and too true. Don't be a methodology zealot - you'll be boring, inflexible, and perhaps soon unemployed.

Oh, and I am writing this really early in the morning. Watch for sample chapters from my book soon!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Taiwan and NYC

You should have seen the size of the frog's legs I had in Taiwan... my hosts didn't think I knew what they were, but I did. They really do taste like chicken - bad, dark meat, like Copps-broasted fried chicken. I mostly fulfilled my self-promise not to eat anything western while in Taipei, although at the height of Typhoon Megi's torrential rains, so help me I did get Haagen-Daz and Pringles from the 7-11 across the street from my hotel.

Anyway - my students in Taipei all needed this course to graduate with their master's degree in project management from International University of Monaco, and were well-prepared and attentive. It was interesting to see the similarities in project management whether practiced in Taiwan, China or the United States. Seems we all have problems with unreasonable sponsors and stakeholders, challenging team members and how to best balance theory and practical application of the PMBOK process areas.

It was an amazing trip, and a tremendous learning experience. Aside from teaching, my hosts took me to the National Palace Museum. Look this up - the history of this museum is almost too stunning to comprehend. On another scale, the same applies to the 2nd tallest building in the world, Taipei 101. The shopping mall there was identical to any you'd find in, say downtown Chicago, but Taipei 101 is taller than the Sears Tower and truly awe-inspiring, even when the views are diminished by typhoon rains.

Just last week I presented my final SeminarsWorld of the year in New York City. PMI outdid themselves by selecting the Mariott Marquis right on Times Square for the location. Had a full load of 30 people for Tools and Tactics for Recovering Troubled Projects. I hadn't been to NYC since before 9/11, and it was fantastic to be there again, and to get more feedback from a diverse group of students from Colombia, the Netherlands, Norway as well as across the United States.

Closer to home I spoke at Milwaukee PMI's Professional Development Day on November 8. This chapter always draws good attendance for their events, and so we had a large room for my talk on "When Agendas Override Objectives" case study. Time to retire that one, except for when it appears in my book. Yes, I've been working on a book for about two years now. It's a collection of essays detailing my career in project management and providing case studies and lessons learned for many of the more interesting projects I managed along the way. And I've had more than my share of interesting projects.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Scrum Master training; ready for SeminarsWorld

Just back from an excellent ScrumMaster training course led by Michael James of Collabnet. Michael is a superb trainer and presenter, and I'll be well-prepped to take the CSM test in a couple weeks thanks to him.

Looking forward to presenting my own course in Washington DC soon... Then off to Taiwan for a week as a visiting professor.

Agile, SCRUM... When you learn and apply the real meat, just another good business practice that will help PMs deliver successful projects. I realized I used to use a lot of these practices in the mid-1990's, except I didn't realize they had a name or an organized process. It just seemed logical to build things, show them to clients, then incorporate their feedback.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Come to my seminars!

If you are going to NA Global Congress, you should really stay a couple of days and come to my seminar. Or, come out to NYC in November and participate there, and see the sites on Times Square!

Tools and Tactics to Recover Troubled Projects


Washington DC


NYC

Monday, September 20, 2010

I'm back... been an interesting 14 months

After a 14 month hiatus, I am back. Since July 2009, I was pulled into a lot of doing both professionally and personally, which left me with no time to add to the blog.

Since July of 2009, I've been busy at my day job, leading a long ERP system selection project, then the pre-work project for an SAP implementation before turning it over to an experienced SAP project manager. I've also spoken or presented at PMI congresses and SeminarsWorld events in the US and Australia, and also attended and presented at an academic research conference in Australia.

This October will be a repeat of 2009: Busy. I will present a seminar after the North America Global Congress (Oct 13 - 14), then the following week I am off to Taiwan to teach as a visiting professor for the International University of Monaco's Master's in Project Management program. More speaking and teaching in November, too for PMI nationally and the Milwaukee, WI chapter's annual Professional Development Day.

I continue to teach for UC-Irvine, Lakeland College and UW-Platteville, although this fall I have a semester off from Platteville as their new full-time faculty member takes on some course load.

Back on the work front, I am diving deep into Agile project management both from a practioner and academic perspective, as I lead a software development project using Agile as well as develop our IT department's Agile PM methodology. I'm hoping to get back in the habit of regular and hopefully thoughtful posting again.