Project Management World Today Featured Papers
April 2006
Editorial | Viewpoints | Papers | Community |Scene | Publications
- “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” An Unbalanced Equation: Separating Facts from Fiction and Feelings by Rob Zanfardino
- The PMO: What Is It Really Managing? by Michel Thiry
- 10 Lessons in Guerilla Tactics of Project Management by Matthias Gelbmann
- The Project Status Meeting and How It Could Go by Nels Hoenig and Susan Snedaker
- Churchill the Project Manager - Part 2 by Mark Kozak-Holland
- Project Management as a Core Competency by Bob Youker
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“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” An Unbalanced Equation: Separating Facts from Fiction and Feelings
by Rob Zanfardino
For those of you who do not recall the American story classic “The Wizard of Oz”, written by L. Frank Baum, in its most simplistic description it is a story about a teenage girl named Dorothy growing up in the heartlands of the United States, who receives a blow to the head and has a dream of this magical place where she is confronted with untold obstacles and challenges. With the help of friends she meets, each with their own strengths and short comings they work as a team, and overcome obstacles placed before them. In the end they help Dorothy reach her ultimate goal which is to find the great and powerful Wizard of Oz who will grant her wish to return home.
More and more as I started thinking about this story, I realized it could very easily be applied to project management and its disciplines than one would first realize. In fact I see so many similarities I would like to pursue this concept in this article. We talk about project management as if it applies only to the IT/IS world and we must remember that we are just a small part of this equation. In fact we need to spread our disciplines over to the business side and have them become as proficient as an IT/IS project team in the management of projects. For those of you who are first time project managers your first few projects will make you feel very much like Dorothy waking up in a strange land. At certain bends along the way you will run into your own types of munchkins and witches and you will have to become very nimble on your feet.
Read the full text at “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” An Unbalanced Equation: Separating Facts from Fiction and Feelings
About the Author:
Robert
J. Zanfardino, Senior Project / Program Manager, has worked with multi
billion dollar corporations such as IBM, Gentiva Health Services, CompuCom,
and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as smaller midsize companies while managing
his own consulting company. This deep range of experiences over the years
developed Rob into a Senior Advisor playing pivotal roles by identifying
new strategies and methodologies within corporations as they effect the project
life cycle. His ability to envision long term solutions combined with structuring
sensible implementation plans have made Rob a valued asset and "Go To" resource.
As an Adjunct Professor focusing on Business Process Management methodologies,
Rob has devised quality strategies used to streamline processes that focus
on the customer's needs. Rob is currently consulting with corporations
enhancing their IT/IS projects, project management offices, and business
process methodologies. Rob can be contacted at: 845-226-6074 or email: zanfardino4@earthlink.net.
The PMO: What Is It Really Managing?
by Michel Thiry
A few years back, I was coaching project managers in a specific program for a large multinational organization. I encountered a strong reluctance from the project managers to use and update their project plans. When investigating the reasons for this, I discovered that the project plan template was imposed by the PMO. It had been designed, with a complete processes and procedures manual, by an external consultant who used a standard project plan model loosely based on the PMBOK Guide®. This model was all inclusive, designed for large projects and since the projects in this program, as most of the projects of the organization, did not exceed €2m-€5m the project plan template was much too detailed.
The project managers felt they were imposed something they did not need and were very reluctant to spend time on it. When I discussed this with the PMO people, I realized that they were aware of this and agreed it was too complicated for the projects, but had been told that the information was needed to input in the PMIS (Project Management Information System).
This is a typical situation that I have encountered in many organizations where PMOs are developed by a small core of experts and rolled out with the support of an “Enterprise Project Management Solution”.
Read the full text at The PMO: What Is It Really Managing?
About the Author:
Michel
Thiry, MSc, TVM, PMP, is founder and managing partner of Valense Ltd, an international
consultancy and Education Network and PMI Registered Education Provider (REP).
He has over 30 years of worldwide professional experience. Michel holds a
master's degree (MSc) in organisational behaviour from Birkbeck College, University
of London, and is currently doing a PhD with University College London (UCL).
He has written and lectured widely on project management, program management
and value management at the International level. More specifically, he authored
the book Value Management Practice (PMI, 1997) and has since written numerous
chapters in prominent books like the Gower Project Management Handbook, the
Wiley Guide to Managing Projects and a book on project governance to be published
by Routledge this year.
10 Lessons in Guerilla Tactics of Project Management
by Matthias Gelbmann
Republished with permission from Q-Success.
While many brilliant books and articles have been written on good project
management, there is little attention paid to all the possibilities a
project manager has to create the appearance of managing a project well
without the burden of actually doing it. The following article is a summary
of such tactics, which I could not help noticing in many years of being
involved in software projects. It is intended for project managers as well
as people who monitor or supervise project managers, because we can prevent
dirty tricks better if we have studied them.
Read the full text at 10 Lessons in Guerilla Tactics of Project Management
About the Author:
Matthias
Gelbmann has over 20 years of experience in software development. He
worked in different technical and managerial positions in diverse areas
ranging from artificial intelligence research to commercial database
applications and embedded software. He is now Chief Executive and consultant
for software
quality management at Q-Success.
Q-Success is an Austrian consulting company, specialized in CMMI-based
software process improvement, software quality assurance and software
project management
The Project Status Meeting and How It Could Go
by Nels Hoenig and Susan Snedaker
Your project is moving along on time and on schedule…well it’s pretty close anyway. Yes, there has been slippage on the delivery date and not all the features are there. Sure some costs came in a little over budget, but that is why it is called a plan and a budget. You have been generating status reports almost every week. The number of open bugs are dropping and you feel pretty good.
So, you walk into the monthly staff meeting confident, prepared to watch those other guys sweat. But, as you enter the room you notice the conversation comes to a halt and everyone is looking at you like you just ran over the plant manager’s dog. Everyone seems so relieved that you came to the meeting but you start to get nervous when the plant manager says to you, “For today’s staff meeting we are going to focus on your project and review its status exclusively. I also have the corporate CIO, Hank, “The Hammer,” on the speaker phone as he asked for this meeting specifically.” You suddenly feel like the guy in the deodorant commercials. However, you have all your status reports up to date and have been doing a good job of change management, so maybe this won’t be that bad…
Read the full text at The Project Status Meeting and How It Could Go
About the Authors:
Susan
Snedaker has held executive and technical positions in the IT industry
including Microsoft, Honeywell, and Keane. She is currently Principal
Consultant with VirtualTeam Consulting, LLC (www.virtualteam.com)
and provides business and technology consulting services. She has
an MBA and BA in Management, she holds a certificate in Advanced
Project Management from Stanford University as well as MCSE and MCT
certifications.
Nels
Hoenig is an experienced Software Project Manager and QA professional.
He is currently employed by TDCI Inc (www.tdci.com) as an Application
Analyst and QA Project Leader. TDCI is a diversified software
and consulting company, providing solutions in the areas of sales
and product configuration, application integration, and Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP). He is certified by PMI as a Project Management
Professional (PMP) and also holds CSQE, MCP, IT Project+ and CPIM
certifications, among others.
Churchill the Project Manager - Part 2
by Mark Kozak-Holland
Continuing with our series on Churchill the Project Manager (PM), this article discusses his background, and why he was so uniquely qualified in May 1940. It looks at the skills that he brought to bear to the project. It also asks what is a good background for a PM, what are the most desired traits, and how important is previous project experience along with the battle scars?
When Churchill became PM at the ripe age of 65 in 1940, he had to find the strength to lead his nation forward from the darkest and most dangerous of times, towards the defeat of a tenacious enemy. But Churchill was ready for this and he had always believed he had a fate with destiny that would require him to lead his nation. As he took the position he had a very good idea of what he was undertaking with the background he had and could draw from experience in tough international negotiations or fierce political battles. In many ways he was so well prepared that he wasted little time in taking actions.
Read the full text at Churchill the Project Manager - Part 2
About the Author:
Mark
Kozak-Holland’s latest book in the Lessons-From-History series
is titled “Churchill's Adaptive Enterprise: Lessons for Business
Today” (http://www.mmpubs.com/churchill/).
It draws parallels between events in World War II and today's business
challenges. Mark is a Senior Business Architecture with HP Services and
regularly writes and speaks on the subject of emerging technologies and
lessons that can be learned from historical projects. He can be contacted
via his Web site at http://www.mmpubs.com/churchill/ or
via email to mark.kozak-holl@sympatico.ca
Project Management as a Core Competency
by Bob Youker
For many organizations the capacity to effectively and efficiently manage projects from conception to completion should be considered a core competency. This means the entire project life cycle not just the implementation phase. Thus project management includes selecting the right projects as well as good implementation. Some people call this Strategic Project Management or just Strategic Management.
Professor Sebastian Green, Dean of the University College, Cork, Ireland defines Strategic Project Management as completing “projects which are of critical importance and enable the organization to have a competitive advantage”. There are three attributes to a core competence: it adds value to customers, it is not easily imitated and it opens up new possibilities in the future. Strategic PM includes the selection of the right projects as well as effective implementation. Thus we have a continuum of Strategic Objectives and Plan – Portfolio Management – Project Management – Organizations PM Capability. This takes an organization from Goals to Results. Doing this well can be a core competency.
Read the full text at Project Management as a Core Competency
About the Author:
Robert
Youker is an independent trainer and consultant in Project Management
with more than thirty-five years of experience in the field. Mr. Youker
is a graduate of Colgate University, the Harvard Business School and
studied for a doctorate in behavioral science at George Washington
University. His project management experience includes new product
development at Xerox Corporation and project management consulting
for many companies as President of Planalog Management Systems from
1968 to 1975.
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