Two special notes

customer note: Dear PSSI, Two special notes that you all should know. First, what sold me on coming to your class as opposed to another is that I felt a genuine desire to help me find the right class on the part of your staff.

Initially, I submitted a list of desires that I had been having trouble with and asked if your classes covered them and how you compared to a Microsoft course. The instructor’s answers were the most straight forward, no sales pitch, bottom line answer I received from all my requests. Most responses were about what the other guys could sell our company next, could they come do a private class etc. They were not as interested in making sure I was getting the training I needed.

A second aspect to this is the back office and the warm welcome friendly helpful attitude toward customers, at least me anyway. She went out of her way before and certainly after I signed up for the class in trying to answer EVERY question I had about travel and things to do etc. etc. etc. And prompt too, other places did not get back to me until a week after I had signed up with PSSI if even then.

I also believe your commitment to not cancel a class is great. I tried to go to two schools before I knew about yours and they were canceled before the scheduled date came or could not promise the class would be held. I really wanted this type of training 3-6 months ago... I should have searched the internet harder and not leaned so much toward thinking I should attend a Microsoft course. Oh well... lesson learned.

[At the end of the project.] Lavish cred

“[At the end of the project.] Lavish credit on anyone and everyone who helped you the least bit.” T Peters

I don’t think I have ever fit well into PMI pants or the Microsoft t-shirt. I have always thought PMI, with its lists, inputs, outputs, certification ribbons and…has been, well, not always very exciting.

Once at the PMI conference in Houston, I was staying in the Four Seasons next to the convention center where we were running a development program in parallel. I jumped in a cab outside the hotel to meet some people for dinner and the driver asked, “You with the conference?” With some hesitation, because of the way he asked the question, I said, “Yes.” “What is with these people?” he asked. It was a rhetorical question. I smiled in reply.

When I think about Microsoft Project, Microsoft Project Server, given the price, given the fact that it is a 100s of millions of dollars in annual sales product line, given the longevity as the owner of the market, should be a heck of a lot more… We shouldn’t have to wrestle – when we sit in front of it, it should…

Both PMI/Microsoft make my backpack heavier. Neither motivate me to be in the project management world.

With over 700,000 PMP certified PMI devotees and millions of MSP and Project Server users – I have to be the exception.

Tom Peters inspires me.

We all work on projects. What if…?

I was just updating our generic PM process. This quote reminded me of how little I think about lavishing credit on anyone and everyone who helped me the least bit.

This idea is worth contemplating. Likely it will change the way we close our projects.

Risk Assessment: Not just what can go wrong, but what is the opportunity?

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

― Marcus Aurelius

"P" in PM = People, Project or Both?

“Project management will become a recognized profession when jokes are made about the practitioners.” IPMA

The P in PM is as much about ‘people'

The P in PM is as much about ‘people management’ as it is about ‘project management’. - Cornelius Fichtner

Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities. ~ Napoleon Hill (Author of the 1st Project Management Book, “Think and Grow Rich”)

In 1991 I was working for Symantec in the product group for TimeLine, the first project management software for the PC. I had recently been working on developing guides for a new product that had just come out called GuideMaker, which was a product that allowed a person to build expert templates that produced project plans for TimeLine and Microsoft Project, that were generated from how the user answered key questions. For instance, let’s say the guide was for building a new residential house, questions the user might answer could be related to square footage, number of bedrooms and baths, materials uses, and if the house was going to have a basement or built on a slab. In this example, a construction manager would run a Guide, answer the question and the product would produce a *.mpp accordingly.

One day I got a call from an editor from Success Magazine. He was a psychologist that believed that personal success was primarily a function of expert planning and deployment. Thus his interest in a product that could build expert plans for a particular purpose based on how users answer questions.

In our conversation, he stated, “Think and Grow Rich” when you take out the psycho-babble out, is essentially a project management book. One of the first self-help books, and the first project management book for the public.

“Think and Grow Rich” was written in 1937 during the Great Depression and has sold over 20 million copies. The philosophy taught in the book is based on the idea that there are tools and techniques that can help people succeed in any line of work, to do and be anything they can imagine.

The Gantt Chart came out in 1917, it was used in the public domain on the high profile Hoover Dam project. Modern project management started to emerge in the 1950s

Using Microsoft Project @project around the house.

Over the last couple of decades I have used @project to plan large capital projects in several different in industries. However, I have personally found Microsoft Project @project to be invaluable in planning repairs for homes I own. Currently I have four homes over 100 years old, and one 120 years old. At times, with careful planning and executing, I have gotten two months of work done in two weeks. This is my last one. Late start but pretty much kept to schedule. Good final product.

“In short, they’re (project managers) a bit like a referee at a sporting event: Do a good job and nobody notices; make a mistake and the finger pointing begins.” ― Andrew Longman

I first met Andrew in 1993 and I worked with him on several projects, notably for the Port of Seattle and Sears. When I look back at my career and the people I have worked with in the project management field, there are few people I enjoyed working with more.

I also team taught a couple of four day workshops with Andrew and when a participant asked a question, he would pause, think about the question and then answer. This wasn’t a pause and than an answer, this was a long pause. 10 seconds, 15 seconds or more. If you have ever conducted workshops in a corporate culture, it takes a lot confidence and courage to pause and think for 20 seconds, while 20 people are looking at you.

I remember the first time I saw him do this, I was sitting there wondering, “What is he doing?” “Is he actually thinking?” At first, honestly, I didn’t like it. But the answers were rich so after awhile I started looking forward to the “pause.”

The quote above is from his book, “The Rational Project Manager: A Thinking Team’s Guide to Getting Work Done.” It is not surprising to me that he wrote a book on project management and rational thinking because if I had to describe Andrew with two words, it would be “Rational Thinker.” 

When I would drive by the “The Thinker” outside the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, I often thought the statue reminded me of Andrew.

Andrew passed away last October when I first wrote this.

When we buy a house, we expect things like the plumbing, gas and electric to work flawlessly. When they don’t – it is a big deal. Things get urgent in a hurry. It is the same with a project in many ways, we expect the project to be on schedule, within budget and that we are going to get exactly what we want.

When things go wrong, all figures point toward the project manager. Most of us can handle that, it is part of the job. We have tools, techniques and communication strategies to deal effectively with problems.

But we are all human too. As a project manager we are in front of all of the stakeholders. One thing for sure, about being a project manager, is it is a lot like being an referee, make a mistake and it is going to get noticed.

When I lived in Philadelphia, I never did go into the Rodin Museum. I was always in a hurry. I think that that is one of the primary reasons we utilize project management tools and techniques, they help us do better thinking. They get us to slow down and think.

One reviewer of Andrew’s book, wrote this, “I am now retired, but I wish that during my 27-year career as a university librarian I had had a guide like The Rational Project Manager to see me through the many complex projects I was responsible for carrying out. When moving special collections or setting up a preservation lab, my team and I would have benefited enormously from having a clear, easy to follow process for managing important projects.”

When a project fails

Projects don't always always go well - at least for most of us. Often the reasons why are outside out control, sometimes we are directly responsible. #PMI does't provide a good compass for us, give the organization's weak treatment of human and organizational psychology in the PMBOK Guide. "Weak" being an understatement. But resilience is one of these things we need to cultivate. What we need when a project goes badly and the project still needs to be completed.

The 6 Steps to Turning Setbacks Into Advantages

Critical Path Method

Likely the most important feature of Microsoft Project is the calculation of critical path, or Critical Path Method.

Critical Path

The longest path or sequence of project activities that control the earliest a project is expected to finish.

Traditionally, an activity on the critical path has no float or slack, meaning that if the activity is delayed it will delay the finish of the project.

Suppose, for example, that three people are each traveling different routes from point A to point B and would like to know the earliest they can meet together at point B. The person taking the longest path (on the critical path or the longest route) to point B determines the earliest possible time the three can meet together. If that same person takes one hour longer to get to point B than planned, the earliest meeting time is delayed by one hour.

Critical Path Method (CPM)

A simple mathematical method used to determine the duration of the project by calculating the possible paths of activities in a project schedule and identifying the longest path (critical path) in the schedule, or the earliest the project can be expected to finish given everything that must be accomplished.

The Critical Path Method also calculates the amount of float or slack for each activity and sequence or path; identifying how much an activity or sequence of activities can be delayed before delaying the finish of the project.

The Critical Path Method uses a forward pass and backward pass calculation to determine project duration and activity float or slack.

Linking In Microsoft Project

There are a variety of terms used to describe linking in Microsoft Project:

• Linking

• Setting dependencies

• Sequencing deliverables

• Network diagramming

• Setting predecessor and successor relationships, etc.

There are four different types of links that can be created between tasks:

• Finish to Start

• Start to Start

• Finish to Finish

• Start to Finish

There are three basic ways to link tasks:

• Selecting tasks and then clicking the Link command

• Editing any of the many predecessor or successor fields

• In the taskbar pane of a Gantt Chart view, Network Diagram view, or a calendar view, click, hold and drag the link command

Timing Constraints in Microsoft Project

A variety of Timing Constraints are only available for Auto Scheduled tasks. All Manually Scheduled tasks are As Soon as Possible (ASAP)

The most important thing to remember is that Timing Constraints have a higher priority on schedule than do links. Unless of course, you turn off that particular scheduling rule in Project Options. (Project Options / Schedule / Scheduling Options for this project / Tasks will always honor their constraint dates)

There are 8 Timing Constraints that can be applied to detail tasks and milestones.

Flexible

• As Soon As Possible (ASAP) - Pushed toward the project start date

• As Late As Possible (ALAP) - Pushed toward the project finish date

Semi-Flexible

• Start No Earlier Than (SNET) a date - The task be pushed out in time, but can not start earlier than a date you enter

• Start No Later Than (SNLT) a date - The task can start earlier than scheduled, but can not start later than a date you enter

• Finish No Earlier Than (FNET) a date - The task can finish later than scheduled, but can not finish earlier than a date you enter.

• Finish No Later Than (FNLT) a date - The task can finish earlier than scheduled, but can not finish later than a date you enter.

Inflexible or Fixed

• Must Start On (MSO) a date - The task must start on a date you enter

• Must Finish On (MFO) a date - The task must finish on a date you enter

Three Timing Constraints are available for Summary Tasks:

• As Soon As Possible

• Start No Earlier Than a date

• Finish No Later Than a date

Scheduling Engine

Behind the scenes of your timeline are an interactive set of features, or rules, that determine how tasks are scheduled. This set of features is often referred to as the scheduling engine.

A partial list of scheduling features or rules include:

• Project Start Date

• Scheduling From the Project Start Date or Project Finish Date

• Calendars

• Schedule Selections in Options

• Task Type (Fixed Duration, Fixed Units, Fixed Work) crossed by Effort Driven (Yes or No)

• Resource Assignments

• Task Mode (Manually or Auto Scheduled)

• Task Constraints

• Links or Dependencies

Schedule built following all of the scheduling rules.

Schedule Logic

Once you have defined the Work Breakdown Structure and Task Requirements, it is time to link tasks together. Linking tasks gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the logic or dependency relationship of tasks.

Microsoft Project and the project management industry as a whole use different language for this activity:

·      Linking tasks

·      Setting dependencies

·      Sequencing deliverables

·      Network diagramming

·      Setting predecessor and successor relationships, etc.

We use the term Task Logic. The idea, which comes from the Project Management Institute, is that in a project there are two types of logic. Hard logic refers to a task that must precede another task, and soft logic illustrates the situation in which you prefer to schedule a task before you schedule another. Often soft logic decisions are made around resource availability.

Task Logic is determined at the Detail task level and it is where plans begin to take shape. Microsoft Project allows you to link summary tasks but if you are interested in correct network diagramming, along with creating and maintaining a critical path for the project, summary linking is inappropriate.

In Microsoft Project, tasks can be linked to one another to demonstrate dependency in various ways; using either the mouse or a dialog box and the keyboard.

Dependency relationships or Task Logic identifies the tasks that must begin or end before other tasks can begin or end.

Once Task Logic is determined, Microsoft Project will calculate the Critical Path for the project.

The schedule of a project is determined by the duration estimates for detail tasks and then the links or dependencies between those tasks.

Note: Factors other than task duration and dependencies can influence schedule, such as resource calendars and timing constraints.

There is a workflow associated with Task Logic.

Workflow in Microsoft Project for Schedule Logic

In the Middle of a Failing Project

Projects do fail, fall apart, go bad, sour.  Projects don’t always always go well – at least for most of us less than perfect PMs, regardless of our skills, training and experience. Often the reasons why are outside our control, sometimes we are directly responsible. Sometimes we are back in middle school and on that basketball team that never wins a game, with that unlikable Mr. Wise as coach, yelling, shaking his head, never having fun. The guy that disliked you too. 

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ ”

— Eleanor Roosevelt

#PMI does’t provide a good compass and map for us to use and follow during turbulent times, they don't even give us some encouragement. Their message is different. I have always been perplexed on the organization’s poor treatment of human and organizational psychology in the documentation that they call A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). “Weak” being an understatement. Basketball camp was the same way, they never taught you how to be on a losing team and help turn it around. To be fair to PMI, a guide that promises to contain the entire body of knowledge on even a bug in the back yard is going to have to be brief on many topics, if you really expect to gather all of the knowledge up in your arms and throw it into a short document structured with inputs and outputs.  

Nevertheless, I guess we all know resilience is one of those things we need to draw on when things are going badly in the project world and we don't need the Project Management Institute to tell us that. We also sort of know that in the process of kick-starting our resilience we need to cultivate that resilience and get it ready again for those future projects. We know it will happen again, as long as we do anything in life. Those future projects that are going to feel like the one we are managing right now, the one that feels stuck up against a rock in the river's current, with dark clouds moving in above that are about to burst open. With real people expecting results, waiting on us, judging progress. This is what we need, resilience, more than tools and techniques  -  when the project is under the line of despair. When we can't lift, but it still needs to be completed and that finish milestone is way at the end of a seemingly endless tunnel.

Resilience. 

The 6 Steps to Turning Setbacks Into Advantages

The 6 Steps to Turning Setbacks Into Advantages

nytimes.com

“Unless estimates are partially derived with proven technique they are nothing less than a WAG” – Ray Coker

If you are an expert and you know, you know. But on a lot of our project activities or work packages, we don’t “know” the cost, effort or duration so we estimate. If we estimate based on our experience and or memory, regardless of how expert we might actually be, it typically is nothing more than WAG – a Wild-Ass Guess.

And as a side note, there is nothing wrong with saying ass in a blog, even in the Old Testament, “Judah got on is ass and rode away.”

Most people put a S in front of WAG to form SWAG. The S can refer to what ever makes sense in your situation, it could be Scientific, Statistical, Stupid, Simple, Silly, Sophisticated, etc.

Wikipedia says this about the use of SWAG:

SWAG is used to describe an estimate derived from a combination of factors including past experience, general impressions, and heuristic or approximate calculations rather than an exhaustive search, proof, or rigorous calculation. The SWAG is an educated guess but is not regarded as the best or most accurate estimate.[2] The SWAG is not computed or proven rigorously, but the proponent asserts his or her own judgement suffices to rationalize the estimate; and it may, in time, be viable to produce a rigorous forecast of increased precision.

Years ago the Army web site told the history of popular military acronyms. WAG is an old military term, the website claimed, and it goes all the way back to when two armies would face off against each other on the battlefield. The evening before the big battle, the story goes, the general of the army is walking among the troops and comes across a private preparing himself for what he thinks he needs to do before battle and the general, almost absently asks the private, “Son, how strong is the enemy going to be tomorrow?” The private thinks to himself, “How the hell would I know, they have been keeping that a secret.” But he is under a lot of pressure to respond because he is being asked to provide an estimate by a very powerful person. The Army website then stated, “It is not recommended to use WAG with senior officers.” The why was not provided because it is obvious that WAG can lead to disastrous consequences.

Don't give a senior officer wag....it doesn't work in the military, it doesn't work on projects

WAG doesn’t work in the military and it doesn’t work in project management. See blog post on:  Estimating is what you do when you don’t know. ~ Sherman Kent

What was the rationale for the Iraq War? Some experts claim the Bush administration fabricated reasons for a war it wanted, this may or may not be true, but at the very least, the invasion was based on WAG. Even Colin Powell, long after his presentation to the United Nations Security Counsel, stated that he was at the Pentagon every day and no one told him the information he was presented with wasn’t factual. Frontline states in an article called, “Colin Powell: U.N. Speech ‘Was a Great Intelligence Failure'” that Powells’s speech…

…to the United Nations, laying out the Bush administration’s rationale for war in Iraq, is a “blot” on his record. The speech set out to detail Iraq’s weapons program, but as the intelligence would later confirm, that program was nonexistent.

“Blot on his record.” What an understatement. Thousand of US personnel killed, and an estimate by university researchers in the United States, Canada and Baghdad in cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry of Health suggests the Iraqi death toll is as high as 500,000. Not including all of the lives ruined, the injured and all of the suffering. 

In addition, the financial cost of the Iraq War is 1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in war veteran benefits that could grow to $6, trillion in the next 40 years.

WAG – simply avoid it, it doesn’t provide value and it can lead to serious consequences in any context.

Huge cost to the American tax paper and huge loss of life