Curiouser and Curiouser!

Curiouser and Curiouser! on project-management http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic project-management Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb Did you hear something? Thu, 12 Dec 2002 11:40:34 +0000 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/#90003486">Reduce Project Variability...Start Listening</A>. I've been teaching listening from the time I started teaching project management. Invariably, a large percentage (often a great majority) of the sources of mis-coordination on projects is the result of project participants not listening. Mis-listening just adds to the variability and uncertainty on our projects. [<A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/">Reforming Project Management</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> With thanks to <A href="http://dijest.com/aka/">Phil</A> for rsstroducing me to Hal's blog and to a great post.  It's also a great advert for k-logs since reading k-logs is all about listening. Was it Phil who, a little while ago, advised the idea of using k-logs to let projects fail fast.  Reading the k-logs of the people on the team (or perhaps a consolidated feed built from & filtered out of their individual feeds) is a key aspect of how you understand what is happening on the project, how you can tell if it is failling and understand the issues. I've pondered risk management in projects before.  No project worth doing comes without risks and the challenge is often to understand what the real risks are and to spot them in time to do something about them.  Again, this is listening.  How can you sense when a risk is rearing it's head for real?  How can you tell when a new issue is emerging that should make it onto your list? If listening is the stethoscope then k-logs are the heartbeat (...too much? :-) ) http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00000994.html 8P's of Project Management Wed, 29 Jan 2003 11:12:17 +0000 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/#90168412">Project Integrity Day Sign-Up</A>. Sign-up for Project Integrity Day by sending a blank email (no subject and no body) to <A href="mailto:project.integrity.day@getresponse.com">project.integrity.day@getresponse.com</A>. You will get a response with a tel number. More details will follow. There is no charge for this. <H4>Eight P's of Project Integrity</H4> You might ask, "Where did these come from?" Good question. I made them up. But there's a method to my <STRIKE>madness</STRIKE> arrogance. We assess integrity situationally. We see it in one setting and not in others. We also assess integrity as it regards those things we care about. So, looking at projects I began looking at what could be out-of-integrity. That it nicely fit into a list of words all beginning with "P" makes it easy to remember, even if it is suspicious. <OL> <LI>Purpose Why are we doing the project? or For the sake of what does it matter that we succeed? Purpose changes or evolves through time. We learn; conditions change; clients' views change. We must talk about purpose to maintain integrity of purpose. <LI>Promise(s) What is it specifically that we will produce? One way to think about a project is as a collection of promises that when fulfilled will satisfy the customer and the purpose of the project. Promises may need to change as the purpose changes. Further, as we learn, we see we can make better promises than those made early on. Revisiting our promises produces integrity. <LI>Process How will we go about delivering on our promises? We've all learned there is more than one right way of doing something. What looks good to begin may not work at all. Further, we may agree to all do something one way, but find that we are not following through. <LI>People There are two issues here: <UL> <LI>Are people well-matched for the roles they are performing? <LI>Are you doing all you can to have them succeed in those roles? </LI></UL> <LI>Planning By now you know my position is that planning is an on-going activity on projects. Are you doing that? And, are you embracing planning as an opportunity to incorporate learning and innovation on your project? <LI>Practice(s) Each organization has makes their own declarations about the (best) practices that support successful projects. <UL> <LI>What are those declarations? <LI>Are you doing what you say? </LI></UL> <LI>Performance You can't improve if you are not measuring. What are the measures you say are important to project success? Are you measuring? Are you informing? Are you investigating and taking action based on those measures? <LI>Place Is the work setting conducive to what we are doing? For instance, <UL> <LI>Is the setting clean and orderly <LI>Is material presented appropriately? <LI>Is it a safe place to work? </LI></UL></LI></OL> We'll use the Eight P's of Project Integrity as the basis for our work next Friday. In the meantime, begin observing your project with these distinctions. Look for both what you are already doing well and where you see what you could be doing better. I'll write you again on Monday. [<A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/">Reforming Project Management</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> There's a good deal of wisdom in those P's. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001105.html Purpose is the No.1 P Fri, 31 Jan 2003 10:41:32 +0000 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> Project Management's first P (there are eight): Purpose. <A href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0107808/2003/01/29.html#a699">C and C</A> forwarded <A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/#90168412">this is nice piece</A> on Project Management, structured into eight 'P's: Purpose, Promise, Process, People, Planning, Practice, Performance, and Place. Eight 'p's are a little daunting so I might jot two or three onto an index card for my cubicle. Purpose is a good one to review on a weekly basis (for me at least, as I can wander into tangentia). Why are we doing the project? It would be interesting to track the answer from week to week. As the author says, "Purpose changes or evolves through time. We learn, conditions change, clients' views change." This is something I hadn't considered before: expect the first P (Purpose) to change with time. Allow it to change. If purpose remains constant, fine. If not, at least you won't be blindsided. Expecting purpose to change also motivates you to consistently revisit the first p. Revisiting p1 naturally reinforces p5: planning, but that's topic for another time. [<A href="http://radio.weblogs.com/0111198/">Blogfish</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> Alison picks up on the 8P's and makes a good interwingly point. Purpose is the key aspect of any project.  Without a clearly defined purpose what's the point? <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> "Hey you guys! We delivered it in time and under budget!" "Great. Now what the hell is it and why would I want one?"</BLOCKQUOTE> Most worthwhile projects (and nearly all worthless ones) take quite a while to deliver, during which time change happens.  Goals become outdated, or just plain wrong.  You have to keep raising the periscope and checking that the vision is still on target. This is quite a discipline.  Once people get up a head of steam, they don't want to have to make anything other than minor course corrections. It's one of the reasons why I like the doctrine of eXtreme Programming so much.  That huge multi-year project gets turned into hundreds of smaller projects.  This creates natural breaks where people can come up for air and check back with the customer that they are still doing something good. eXtreme Knowledge Management should be like this too.  Driven by the principle that people ask questions (and not just at the beginning): <UL> <LI>"Is this still valuable knowledge?"</LI> <LI>"How does it all fit together?"</LI> <LI>"When will I use it?"</LI> <LI>"How will I find it?"</LI> <LI>"Are there new pieces to the puzzle?"</LI></UL> For KM though there is something else, since,  KM is not an end, but a means to an end. The purposes of a KM project, and this is perhaps a cause of the failure of some KM projects, should be closely aligned with the purposes of the organisation at large. This means that people serving on KM projects really need to be keeping their radar at maximum and checking that the goals of the project still align with, and support, the goals of the organisation. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001120.html p-logs Fri, 14 Feb 2003 17:43:09 +0000 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/#90323308">P-Logs for Project Teams</A>. Here's my <A title="Hal Macomber, Reforming Project Management, 2003" href="http://halmacomber.com/p-log_draft_spec.html">Proposal for a P-Log (Project Weblog) Specification</A>. Why the Interest in Weblogs? I've been curious about the role blogging could play on projects. In October I did a posting <A href="http://halmacomber.com/jammin/2002_10_06_archive.html#85538713">Project Klogs: Changing Paradigms</A> on John Udell's view of weblogs for projects. Udell claimed our tools and practices don't attend to the story of the project. Projects fail. This is the usual case. We all know this. Attempts by the <A href="http://www.pmi.org/">PMI</A> to address this have not succeeded. It's time for something completely different. Why A Specification? We've been designing and redesigning the same collaboration tools for years. Ten years ago I used an early Lotus Notes database for project management. Back then and today the collaboration environments do the same things: provide status, track issues, and discussion. We can do those things with a p-log. But there are three critical issues that need attention that haven't got attention: <OL> <LI>Uncertainty - the future unfolds influenced by actions of the team and the world that is unfolding around the team. Planning is the conversation for participating in the infolding. <LI>Learning - the vast majority of knowledge is tacit. Projects are one-of-a-kind opportunities to share, deepen, innovate, ... <LI>Mood of the team - enthusiasm beats complacency, cooperation beats (internal) competition, determination beats resignation, and wonder beats arrogance. Yet, when mood is left unaddressed we get what we get. </LI></OL>P-logs are about the story of the project and the team. P-logs are for the team to take charge of the conversation of the project. What's Next? Perhaps this is too ambitious. Perhaps nothing short of audacious ambition will get at the underlying sources of project failure. I propose we do this together. How about a project conducted with a weblog for developing the p-log? (Thanks <A title="Learning about Lean" href="http://joeelylean.blogspot.com/">Joe</A> for the proposal.) In the next few days I'll write about aspects of the <A title="Hal Macomber, Reforming Project Management, 2003" href="http://halmacomber.com/p-log_draft_spec.html">p-log specification</A>. Please join in with your comments and questions, suggestions and criticisms, and offers to build and use a prototype p-log. [<A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/">Reforming Project Management</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE>   http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001163.html Successful project management Sun, 09 Mar 2003 10:52:10 +0000 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/#90418727">The Management Secrets of the Brain</A>. M. Mitchell Waldop urges us to manage projects from the bottom up. In an article published in Business 2.0 in October 2002 (so I've been sitting on this one for awhile...) <A title="Business 2.0 october 2002" href="http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,43499,00.html">The Management Secrets of the Brain</A> he draws parallels to recent understanding of how our brains work to managing organizations. <BLOCKQUOTE>Your brain is the ultimate example of a complex, decentralized organization. And because we (usually) behave coherently, smoothly integrating new circumstances as they arise, the brain is also the epitome of an adaptive organization, a learning organization, a shared-vision organization -- in short, the ideal modern company. </BLOCKQUOTE>Waldop makes five claims: <OL> <LI>Never try to micromanage a large, complex organization. There's not enough executive attention in the world to ironmonger this level of activity. <LI>Don't let bottom-up self-organization go wild. Without leadership standard operating procedures are directionless and blind. <LI>The best way to control your subordinates is to just point them in the right direction. This new model...assumes that [leaders have] just one job, which is to generate a neural map of the [organization's] goals, strategies, and current situation. <LI>Be careful listening to the voice of experience -- that voice could be your own. Sometimes an organization has to break out of its rut and try a new approach. <LI>The organization can't succeed without passion. Unless we know what's important, what matters, then all the rationality in the world gets us nowhere. </LI></OL> Waldop makes a great case for managing projects on an agile or lean basis. The brain is ideally suited for project complexity, uncertainty, inevitable learning, and the underlying humanness of the endeavor. Why would we even try a different approach. [<A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/">Reforming Project Management</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> Leadership & strong vision are the key to a successful project?  I'll buy that. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001265.html Project Portfolio Management Mon, 31 Mar 2003 08:45:11 +0100 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/#200070768">Project Portfolio Management</A>. <A title="Project Management World Today Web Magazine April 03 PM Viewpoints" href="http://www.synapse.net/cgi-bin/ifetch?www.pmforum.org 186129821453 F">Project (Portfolio) Management...Like Herding Cats?</A> by Glen B. Alleman. Glen is a regular contributor to PM World Today writing on Information Technology projects. Check out his other articles when you visit this one. While many of us project managers struggle with our own project, firms often need to manage collections of projects. Glen has been writing about how to think about and organize an approach that can be successful. Glen writes, "Before projects can be ready for (project) portfolio management (PPM) they must possess certain attributes. <UL> <LI>The clear start and end date what is the dropdead date? <LI>A definition of done what needs to be in for this project earn its keep? <LI>A business case on what day does this project breakeven? <LI>A priority ranking what projects are more or less important than this one? </LI></UL>"These attributes seem obvious at first glance, but it is breathtaking how many projects dont posses these simple attributes." <H5>The Foundation of Portfolio Management</H5> Glen says PPM depends on four concurrent processes. <UL> <LI>A Balanced Scorecard strategy to define priorities and establish a connection between every project and a specific strategy and objective. <LI>A public registry of projects, resources, and deliverables housed in Microsoft Project 2002 Server. <LI>An Earned Value performance reporting and measurement processes to make visible performance metrics for cost and schedule. <LI>A process to select, classify, measure, and guide the implementation for collections of IT projects. </LI></UL>"(W)ithout a business context and a strategic goal, the project manager is simply a cog in the administrative wheels of the firm." Stick with this guy. He's thoughtful, practical, and working at the edge of emerging theory and practice. [<A href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/">Reforming Project Management</A>]</BLOCKQUOTE> I could post so much more from Hal's blog.  It is a veritable treasure trove of good stuff for those involved (or just interested) in managing projects. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001336.html What comes after changeblogs? Thu, 20 Nov 2003 16:37:16 +0000 <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://www.decafbad.com/blog/links/boocjaajai.html">Quick Links</a>. </div> <ul style="margin-left: 40px;"><li><a href="http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/001075.html">CVS Commit + Weblog = Changeblog </a></li></ul> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"> [<a href="http://www.decafbad.com/blog">0xDECAFBAD</a>] </div> <a href="http://www.dijest.com/aka/">Phil Wolff</a> and I were <a href="http://matt.blogs.it/2003/07/21.html#a1042">talking</a> about this a little while ago and now <a href="http://www.multiply.org/notebook/">Jason Gessner</a> has it working.  That's great! The next stage for me would be to start creating RSS feeds with <a href="http://matt.blogs.it/spects/ENT/1.0/">ENT</a> metadata from those changeblogs. At a very basic level I can imagine a <a href="http://w4.evectors.it/">K-Collector</a> topic corresponding to each project.  Then each topic view could aggregated not only what developers were writing in their own blogs but also CVS messages corresponding to the status of the project. But why stop there.  Your junit based daily smoke & build test could be generating a similar feed, your project management system, issue database and so on.  All these feeds could be flowing into project topics giving you an uptodate and holistic view of what is happening in those projects. Who'd ever be caught on the hop in a project meeting again? http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001751.html Looking for leadership in all the wrong places Fri, 28 Nov 2003 16:16:47 +0000 <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><a href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/2003_11_23_archive.html#106991075620813432">Fingerprints of Unhappy Companies All Look the Same</a>. </div> John R. Brandt writes the column Brandt On Leadership for <a href="http://www.industryweek.com/">Industry Week</a>. His latest article <a href="http://www.industryweek.com/columns/asp/columns.asp?ColumnId=979">Come On, Get Happy</a>, is another gem. Brandt says, <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><cite>It never ceases to amaze how completely the managers and employees of unhappy companies -- whether actively failing or merely mired in mediocrity -- can convince themselves that their troubles are unique.</cite></div> <cite>Invariably, I'm told that their predicament is due to: difficult market conditions beyond their control; wholesale customer defections based on currency fluctuations or unfair trade; a particularly toxic or strangled culture that prevents change.</cite> <cite>Please.</cite> Brandt claims all unhappy companies look alike sharing five fingerprints: <ol style="margin-left: 40px;"> <li>A belief that employees are dangerous and lazy.</li> <li>A conviction that customers cannot be trusted.</li> <li>A focus on policies, not principles.</li> <li>An obsession with today, not tomorrow.</li> <li>Leadership in all the wrong places.</li> </ol> Brandt does a good job elaborating on each of the five fingerprints. <a href="http://www.industryweek.com/columns/asp/columns.asp?ColumnId=979">Take a look</a>. While you're there, see if you recognize any of those fingerprints for your company or project. [<a href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/">Reforming Project Management</a>] I just love Hal's blog.  Every post is a gem. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001779.html Setting up basecamp Thu, 05 Feb 2004 16:29:42 +0000 <blockquote><a href="http://www.basecamphq.com/">basecamp.com</a>. <A href="http://www.basecamphq.com/">Basecamp launches</A>. definitely worth taking a look at this project management app [<A href="http://www.dashes.com/links/">anil dash's daily links</A>] <A href="http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=16995827411136734352">Jason Fried</A> (Mr. 37Signals - the creators of basecamp.com) sent me a link to it today. It looks coolio. [<a href="http://blogs.it/0100198/">Marc's Voice</a>]</blockquote> This one looks interesting... http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001851.html Making projects a little bit easier Wed, 18 Feb 2004 07:34:32 +0000 <blockquote><a href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/2004_02_15_archive.html#107707712407496967">Why Projects are Hard</a>.  This <a href="http://www.focusedperformance.com/2004_02_01_blarch.html#107694136612597720">sidebar</a> to Frank Patrick's series on Promises and Prescriptions attempts to show why it is we find projects hard. I found it hard to understand the sidebar! (Just kidding Frank.) Projects are hard due to the interaction of uncertainty and variability. Our efforts to minimize uncertainty, for instance by deciding early, serve to limit the actions available to performers as the future unfolds. At the same time, we introduce variability by being unreliable with our project commitments. "Hard" is an understatement. For those of you subscribing to Reforming Project Management via Bloglet, you can add a subscription to Frank's <a href="http://www.focusedperformance.com/blogger.html" title="links and commentary related primarily to organizational effectiveness with a "Theory of Constraints" perspective">Focussed Performance Business Blog</a> and have our postings delivered together automagically in the same email message. (You'll find Frank's subscription box at the top of the right-hand column.) Try it out for awhile. [<a href="http://weblog.halmacomber.com/">Reforming Project Management</a>]</blockquote> I think that this is one of the first areas in which business weblogs will make a big impact. Widespread use of weblogs offer a low-cost boost in information visibility & processing which has a two key knock-on effects for project work: <ul> <li>earlier identification of risks</li> <li>better tracking of those risks</li> </ul> In concert these effects mean that more overall risk can be endured because it can be evaluated early & addressed (rather than only being seen after it is upon you). In turn this ability to manage risk better holds out the possibility of a more flexible approach to project work. One such idea borrowed (most recently) from <a href="http://www.extremeprogramming.org/">eXtreme Programming</a> is the architectural spike. In XP an architectural spike is a short, controlled, foray into unknown territory. When confronted with a difficult problem several of these spikes may be made to evaluate different approaches before selecting the best option. Used as part of a lightweight, high-visibility, methodology this is an improved way of working. Because you can trust that your risks are containable you can safely defer decisions until they need to be made increasing options & flexibility for the project team. http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001906.html Seeking opinions: IdeaFisher & Project Kickstart Tue, 23 Mar 2004 21:01:12 +0000 Has anyone out there used <a href="http://store.ideafishing.com/index.html">IdeaFisher</a>? I'm doing a lot of marketing and idea-centric work at the moment. I saw a quick demo of it in action today and i'm pretty tempted. However i've been here before, so I'm keen to see if anyone else has a read on it. Also <a href="http://www.projectkickstart.com/">Project Kickstart</a> looks like a pretty cool tool for someone like me who needs project discipline but finds that MS Project frightens me more than it assists me. Anyone have any views? http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00002020.html