Reforming Project Management Theory and Practice

Reforming Project Management
© 2004 Hal Macomber	\| Email Hal \| bloghome \| Archives \| e-Tips \| IGLC \| Safety \| Articles \| About Hal \| H	\|

A Teleconference Series Book [click for another] Don't miss a posting. Join over 1095 other people who Subscribe to Reforming Project Management Enter your email: powered by Bloglet Spread the word TELL A FRIEND Enter friend's e-mail: Search this weblog CoachBlog? Top 25 Business Coaches! Google News Alerts < # Blogrollers ? > < # bostonites ? > Featured in Seth Godin's Bull Market 2004	Thursday, February 06, 2003 Address the Project Team's Mood then the Impossible Deadlines Here's another piece on deadlines. You'll remember Aubrey Daniels said look to the system when deadlines are missed. Tom Mochal provides a different take on a similar issue What to do when impossible project deadlines are common procedure. A reader asked, "How do you handle a business unit's impossible deadlines?" I love Tom's answer, "Take control of your project and stop being a victim." Unfortunately, the rest of the article can be summarized as make the most of your situation. Tom offers these prescriptions for "taking control": Risk management Issues management Scope management Proactive communication He doesn't address the leader's and team members' moods of frustration, resignation, and detachment from the purpose of the project. Even if the above four actions could work (I doubt it), it will show up as hard work for those involved rather than an opportunity to be enthused. The project will fail. Decide for yourself. Read the article and leave your rating. I did. posted by Hal at 10:30 PM \| link \| \| \| Google It! \| Email This \| Wednesday, February 05, 2003 When Employees Miss Deadlines When employees miss deadlines...look for failures in the system. Author, speaker and consultant Aubrey Daniels answers a reader's question about missing deadlines on software development projects. Daniels claims when an organization is missing commitments look to the architect of the organization -- management. He goes on to say, "If employees frequently miss deadlines or rush around at the last minute to make them...the consequences for meeting deadlines are at fault." Look instead at how you set deadlines, How you respond to people when they meet them, and How you respond when they don't. Daniels goes on, The first is to assume success and plan how you're going to act when the employees are successful. What are you going to do and what are you going to say? The second is to have a way to see progress along the way. Put a large graph in the work area where everyone involved can see it every day. If you can track progress such as percent completion on a daily basis, you'll get a better result than if you graph it only weekly. I only take issue with what to measure. Don't measure the typical percent completion. Instead, measure tasks completed (done-done) as planned. Otherwise, nice article. posted by Hal at 2:31 PM \| link \| \| \| Google It! \| Email This \| Monday, February 03, 2003 ---Expert Project Management--- If there is such a thing as expert project management you will find it from Max Wideman. Max offers a complete resource site for project management. His advice is direct, often funny, and based on year's of experience managing projects. I've been referring to Max's wisdom for quite some time. Take a look for yourself. posted by Hal at 9:03 PM \| link \| \| \| Google It! \| Email This \| Sunday, February 02, 2003 The Jury is Out on Reforming Project Management I received numerous replies to the posting Can the Reform of Project Management Succeed? Most were encouraging. Many came by email; while others were the topic of Yahoo! Group discussions. Here are ten of the best quotes: I think the project management theory is dated...(I) am a big fan of controlling variability Kalyan PM sometimes just has to be "enforced" from the top down. Buck If you ask for different reporting and you don't create jobs for traditional PMs and you don't hire any, you have a paradigm shift. David In an agile world, the PM's job is to keep the Issue Log empty, not draw the Gantt Chart. Ken I actually believe that this decade is when the entire project management paradigm is going to undergo a paradigm shift. Kalyan The theory & practice of project management IS stuck in a rut but that's not because of a lack of effort...No it is mostly because project managers are sticking to an outdated technique. Namely GANTT chart style project planning. Chris Do we need to produce a change in project management? Or do we simply need to produce a change in the projects we manage?...If those of us who are passionate about eliminating waste in systems keep learning and sharing, we'll have impact on those projects we touch. Joe Tariq offered "these OLD quotes": Every time material is handled , something is added to it's cost, yet not to it's value. - Henry Royce, 1907 It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change. - Charles Darwin When the learner is ready, the teacher will come. - Taiichi Ohno We don't have to change; survival isn't mandatory. - W. Edwards Deming Real benefits come when managers begin to understand the profound difference between "cost cutting" and "eliminating the causes" of costs. Brian L. Joiner The schedule, which used to be the assumed management tool, is a path only marked in the distance now. At best it has always been a guess as to the steps needed. Steve The PMI will disappear unless its members embrace progressive paradigms. Marton Long live the reform! posted by Hal at 10:07 PM \| link \| \| \| Google It! \| Email This \| Visit the Archives for more postings	Blogroll Me! Reference Papers Project Resources Books Top Blogs! Bookmark These Weblogs Blogroll Me! Yahoo! Groups RecipRoll