Project Management Learning

Comments (1)

What Is “Fast, Cheap, Good: Pick Two” in Project Management?

Fast, cheap, and good: pick (or choose) two refers to a Project Management term that Project Managers can only deliver, in any one project, 2 out of the 3 main constraints (schedule, cost, scope) according to the initial project plan. It is unknown who first came up with this term.

In nearly every project, Project Managers are faced with a tough decision: Should they compromise on the schedule, the cost, or the quality (e.g. scope)? Below is an explanation of every case:

Cheap and Good

In this case the Project Manager has chosen to compromise on the schedule in favor of cost and scope, hence the project will be finished late. This is the rarest scenario, as usually a project finished behind schedule is not cheap, and ends up costing more (often much more) than its initial budget. Smart Project Managers usually do not choose “cheap and good” simply because there is a very high chance that the project will end up expensive, bad, and way behind schedule. A very late project might also get killed.

Fast and Cheap

This will result in a “cheap” project in all the meanings of the word. The Project Manager opts to favor time and cost at the expense of the scope. This means that the end product/service will not be delivered according to the original scope: either the quality will be greatly reduced or some planned (key) features will not make it in the released version (in case of a software project). Needless to say, this is the most common scenario across the board, and is the favorite for both the Project Manager and the stakeholders:

• The Project Manager will be regarded as someone who “gets the job done”.
• The project stakeholders will be satisfied that they have a product/service delivered on time, albeit missing some features.

Negative effects for internal projects are usually minimal, however, for projects delivering a product or services to an end client, then the reputation of the company might suffer on the long term. Having said that, it is amazing to see that a lot of mega-companies follow this same strategy, and get away with it (the famous “release now, patch later” mentality). These companies are still growing and expanding.

Fast and Good

This is the preferred choice of Project Managers in case of construction projects, where adding more resources makes sense and can greatly accelerate the speed of the project, but, of course, at an increased, condensed cost. In case of software projects, this approach is not practical, as adding more resources increases the communication channels, ultimately reducing the velocity of the project (In general, Project Managers are advised not to take this approach for software projects).

Sadly, in almost all cases, scope (and consequently quality) is the first constraint targeted by Project Managers. The reason for that is that scope is traditionally non-measurable, as opposed to both the schedule and the cost. Stakeholders are more open to accept a reduction in the quality or features in the end product or service, than an increased cost or a prolonged schedule. This is the reason why so many products out there don’t turn out as people initially expected.

© 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.

Comments (2)

What Will Happen in Project Management in 20 Years?

By studying the previous and the current trends in Project Management as well as technology (especially the communication aspect), here’s some thoughts on what might happen in Project Management in 20 years (or 2030):

Communication

• Conferencing will be made using holograms.
• Every machine (PC) will have an integrated environment showing the progress of the project, the person’s tasks, and other related information.
• Communicating with people in different languages will be a breeze due to instant, nearly perfect automatic translation from one language to any other language.

Multicultural Projects

• Project teams will be less distributed, the trend of having multicultural teams across two or several countries will be reversed (although there will be no language barrier anymore, check the 3rd reason from the “Communication” list above). The reason for that is that the gap between currently weatlthy countries and poor countries will narrow so much that it will not make an economical sense to outsource fully or partially anymore.

Education and Certification

• Experience will still help Project Managers in getting a job but there will be no need to get it to become one: universities will offer strengthened education programs for Project Management, truly preparing people to become Project Managers from day one on the job.
• Private organizations offering certifications will become abundant until then, when they will be nearly completely overtaken by formal education (offered by universities).
• The Project Manager’s worthiness in the market will be valued depending on the prestige of the school he graduated from.

Organizational Structures

• Projectized organizational structures will flourish, while functional organizations will diminish greatly.
• Program Managers will replace functional managers in most organizations due to projectized environments.
• Project Managers will have substantially increased authority over their resources, that authority once belonged to functional managers.

Software Projects

• The software industry will reach a certain maturity that will make managing (software) projects standardized. Software development projects will have less unknowns, more educated customers, and hence less risks and change requests, and consequently a higher percentage of success.

Overall

• There will be a substantial increase in project success (much higher than the current 32% according to the Standish CHAOS Report). This is due to the formalization of all the processes, the enhancement of the communication means, and the perfected quality of Project Management taught at school.
• Project Management will be eventually recognized by everyone as a profession, due to the complete adoption at schools, where it will be considered a science (like Math).
• Program Management will infiltrate and influence governments, and a supreme Program Manager assigned by the government will oversee all the programs in all the governmental bodies.

© 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.

Comments (0)

What Is Parkinson’s Law in Project Management?

Parkinson’s Law was coined in 1995 by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, an English historian. Parkinson’s Law, in its general definition, means that Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

So how does Parkinson’s Law affect Project Management?

It is very easy for any Project Manager to relate to Parkinson’s Law. The most common example is the following: A resource is given a task that takes only a few hours at worst, but was allocated a week of work in the project schedule. Miraculously, the time spent on this task will expand and the task will be finished at the last minute of the last day of the allocated week (and sometimes not).

The definition of Parkinson’s Law can also be adapted to constraints other than time, for example the budget. So another definition may very well be: Total costs expand so as to exhaust the total budget available for the completion of the project.

Again, any Project Manager can easily relate to the above definition: How many projects out there were finished under-budget? Not too many, in fact, very few. Even when the Project Manager adds so much contingency to the budget and accounts for every possible risk and issue, the project is either finished on budget or (more likely) over-budget.

Why does this often happen in Project Management?

Many Project Managers make the mistake of creating a lot of slack in the schedule (for contingency) and creating a huge buffer in the budget (as much as they can get approved), thus projects get finished way beyond their normal finish date and at an inflated cost. There are several reasons why Project Managers make this mistake:

• Keeping promises. Since managing expectations is an important characteristic of a successful PM, Project Managers try their best not to disappoint the stakeholders with a project that is behind schedule or over-budget, so they greatly inflate all the estimates.
• The lowest common denominator mentality. This means that Project Managers expand the time allocated for tasks to match the speed of the slowest team member. Naturally this impairs the rest of the Project team, and creates a lot of unnecessary slack, and consequently inflating the overall cost of the project.
• Skepticism about the team members’ own estimates. Almost every Project Manager learned this the hard way, team members in any project are optimistic in their estimates (team members often say “sure, it’ll take 1 day” for a 3 day task), they are over-confident and they don’t see the big picture. Project Managers tend to buffer extensively their team estimates. Tripling and quadrupling the initial estimates of the team members is not unheard of.
• Laziness and ignorance. Some Project Managers are too lazy to know the members of their project team personally and/or to spend some time to study the technology being used which they’re completely ignorant of, so again, they protect their numbers by largely inflating the estimates. Parkinson’s Law thrives most in this case (which is the worst case).

There are many other reasons out there that make the Project Managers unnecessarily inflate their estimates, but they are all derived from the first reason, “Keeping promises”.

How should Project Managers address Parkinson’s Law?

In short, Project Managers should do their job properly. They should be sure to know each and every team member personally, his weaknesses, his strengths, his real output, his reliability under stress. Project Managers coming from a technical background are the best candidates to beat Parkinson’s Law, simply because they know the real ins and outs of any task, if it’s easy or hard, if it takes an hour or a week, and they’ll be able to assess objectively the estimates given by the team members and deduce some near-accurate estimates themselves. Needless to say, experience in Project Management plays a huge factor in overcoming Parkinson’s Law and finishing the project within a reasonable time-frame and on a realistic budget.

© 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.

Comments (1)

What Is the 80-20 Rule in Project Management?

The 80-20 rule in Project Management refers to the application of the Pareto Principle in a Project Management context. The Pareto Principle, coined by Vilfredo Pareto (a Genoese Economist) in 1906, states that 80% of the consequences originate from 20% of the causes (hence the 80-20 rule naming). Vilfredo first remarked this phenomenon in his garden (where 20% of the plants were holding 80% of the vegetables), and later realized that this principle can be applied in all aspects of life.

Following are some general examples of the Pareto Principle:

• 80% of the world’s wealth is controlled by 20% of the people.
• In a business-to-consumer software company, 20% of the customers cause 80% of support.

Here is how the Pareto Principle is commonly manifested in Project Management:

1. 80% of the time spent on a project is caused by 20% of the features.
2. 80% of the work is done by 20% of the project team.
3. 80% of the budget is spent on 20% of the functionality.
4. 80% of the conflicts are caused by 20% of the team members.

It is imperative for the Project Manager to account for the 80-20 rule in both the project plan (scheduling, team allocation, budgeting) and the risk management plan. Failure to properly recognize the 80-20 rule may very well result in a project that is over-budget and behind schedule. On the other hand, properly accounting for the 80-20 rule is among the traits of an experienced Project Manager and usually results in both a maintainable schedule and an accurate budget for the project.

© 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.

Comments (1)

How Does the PMP Audit Process Work?

Many PMP applicants are intimidated by the PMP audit process and wonder how it works.

First it should be stated that the reason why PMI randomly audits PMP applications is solely to maintain the quality of the applicants becoming PMP certified by making sure that all applicants are eligible for the PMP credential. Naturally, PMI cannot audit all the PMP applications, but auditing just a small percentage will deter quite a few (though definitely not all) applicants that do not meet the requirements.

The PMP audit process starts immediately after the applicants pays the fees for the exam, at this point PMI might elect to audit the candidate’s application who will be notified electronically shortly after paying the PMP fees.

Once notified, the candidate has to provide PMI with documents supporting his application. This might include:

• College/University diplomas (copies)
• Signed attestations from supervisors in the projects that were documented in the candidate’s application
• Proof of accumulating the 35 contact hours. This may include university/college certificates, letters certifying that training has been undertaken, etc…

The candidate has to physically mail (no other form of sending documents is accepted) all the supporting documents to the PMI headquarters in Pennsylvania. Once PMI receives the candidate’s mail, it will make a decision on the candidate’s application within 5 working days. If accepted, the candidate will be allowed to take the test, if not, the candidate will be refunded the fees.

Note that PMI sometimes audits applicants who are already certified, this is very rare, and only happens when someone raises concerns about the applicant’s actual eligibility prior to taking the exam. If an already PMP certified Project Manager gets audited and fails the process, then PMI will revoke his credential.

© 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.

Comments (1)

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Project Management Software?

Many Project Managers and organizations wonder if it’s worth adopting a online PM tool. Here’s a comprehensive list of the advantages and disadvantages of online Project Management Software in order to make that decision easier.

Advantages of Online Project Management Software

• Centralized Data: The data is stored on the server, not on someone’s PC. This means any updates to the data by team members or the Project Manager can be seen immediately by the rest of the team.
• Up-to-date status reporting: Since the data is centralized, and updates are instantaneous, then all the people involved in the project will benefit from an up-to-the-minute status reporting on the project, which is extremely important for the stakeholders.
• Collaboration: Collaboration is the heart of what is now called “Project Management 2.0“. Team members (from different parts of the world in case of multi-national project/organization) will be able to communicate, and discuss certain tasks in real time under the supervision and the participation of the Project Manager, as well as some stakeholders, such as the client.
• Email Notifications: Since an online Project Management Software is usually integrated with a mail server, it is easy to instantly notify team members/stakeholders/project managers about important events, such as changes to the project.
• Compatibility with other PM Tools: Nowadays, most online Project Management tools are compatible with each other, so if the organization is not satisfied with the services of one company, then it is very easy to move to another one offering similar services. All that is there to do is to export the data from the first company’s tool and then import it into the second’s. There seems to be a certain standard that all these companies are following with the way data is being stored. (Note: Make sure that the export format is compatible with the second company prior to moving).
• Access Control Lists: You only want a certain team member to have access only to a couple of tasks on the project, easily done. Intuitive access control lists allow the Project Manager to easily control who has access to what. Generally, access control lists work by individuals and by groups (for example: development team, design team, executives, etc…)
• Ease of use: Almost all online PM tools on the market are very easy to use: there is almost no learning curve (contrary to the offline tools) for the Project Manger, the team members, and senior management (overseeing the overall progress of the project).
• Backups: Backups are extremely important when it comes to project data. Most companies offer nightly backups as part of any plan, and they keep backups for the last 2 weeks. Additionally (again in most cases), the backup of the project data is redundant (e.g. the backup is duplicated on several servers).

Disadvantages of Online Project Management Software

• Some basic Project Management functionality missing: Including Gantt charts, resource leveling, etc…
• Unavailable when there is no Internet connection: Though it seems odd in this day and age to worry about this, there are still a lot of rural areas where Internet connection is simply not available, and when this is the case, it becomes impossible for the Project Manager to work on the project.
• Security and privacy concerns: This is a very legitimate concern for all high profile companies; these companies are reluctant to have their project data (including the project plan and associated critical documents) on a 3rd party server, where the only guarantor of the security and the privacy is the 3rd party company itself.
• No compatibility with offline PM Software: Online PM Software is unfortunately not compatible with its offline counterpart, for example, MS Project. Hence, moving data back and forth is not possible, and some Project Managers end up spending a lot of time updating the data in both software (online and offline).
• Potential distraction: Team members receiving constant notifications about the project, or discussing some other functionalities (that they have nothing to do with) with other team members, are easily distracted. The Project Manager has to communicate and involve the concerned team members only for any task (e.g. a team member working on the development of the core of a software product needs not to be notified about the design progress of the project, and certainly needs not to discuss it).

Although Online Project Management Software is not quite mature yet in terms of functionality, security, and privacy, it is an avenue well worth exploring, as this where Project Management is heading: more and more collaboration. A company not benefiting from this emerging trend will soon find itself outdated and will have to reconsider its Project Management culture to be more aligned with today’s connected world, or perish.

Note: Both the advantages and the disadvantages are not listed in order of importance.

© 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.

Comments (0)

What Forms of Identification Should I Bring With Me to the PMP Exam?

PMP applicants always wonder what form of identification is acceptable when taking the PMP exam.

A rule of thumb is that any government issued identification with the applicant’s picture and signature is acceptable. This includes drivers license, passports, permanent resident cards (US and Canada, referred to as “Green card” in the US).

There are some government issued identifications that do not have any photos, in these cases, a secondary identification (doesn’t have to be governmental) showing the applicant’s photo is required (for example, a valid university card). In case the government issued identification lacks the applicant’s signature, then also a secondary identification bearing the signature is required (for example, a credit card signed by the applicant).

Any form of identification presented to PMI should have the same name as the one on PMI records (otherwise the applicant will be denied taking the test).

Failure to submit proper identification when taking the test usually results in barring the applicant from taking the exam. The main reason behind PMI’s strictness about this is to prevent people from taking exams for others. If the applicant is denied from taking the PMP exam because of this reason, then he must reschedule the exam and pay the full rescheduling fees. PMI treats this case as if the applicant missed the PMP exam with a voluntarily reason.

Note: Social Security Cards/Social Insurance Cards are not an acceptable form of identification (although government issued), as they bear no signature nor a photo. Library cards and gym membership cards are not accepted as secondary form of identification.

© 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.

Comments (1)

What if I Miss My PMP Exam?

There are two types of reasons where an applicant would miss the PMP exam: voluntarily and involuntarily.

Voluntarily reasons are those reasons that are under the applicant’s control such:

• Traveling for leisure/business
• Overload at work
• Marriage

Involuntary reasons are those reasons that are beyond the applicant’s control, such as:

• Urgent medial issues
• Family illness
• Death of a close relative
• Accidents
• etc…

In either case, informing PMI in advance (48 hours in case of a Computer Based Test, 35 days in case of a Paper Based Test) will allow the person to either reschedule the PMP exam for free or cancel the PMP exam and get a refund.

Informing PMI after the PMP test should happen within 72 hours of the test day by contacting the PMI customer care department, failure to do so will result in paying the full reexamination fee. Even when the applicant informs PMI within the 72 hours after the test, it is at PMI’s discretion to whether accept the applicant’s excuse or not. Naturally, it is very hard for PMI to accept any “voluntarily reason” as an excuse for missing the test. In case of an “involuntarily reason”, PMI may request related documents to the applicant’s case, such as death certificate, accident report, doctor/hospital report.

In case the PMP applicant elects to proceed with a reexamination (instead of canceling the exam), the PMP exam should be scheduled within 1 year from the date the PMP application was approved.

© 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.

Comments (0)

What Is the Difference Between Positive and Negative Risks?

Risks to many Project Managers strictly mean “bad news”, however, some risks can be positive, so what are the differences between positive and negative risks? Here’s a list highlighting those differences:

• Negative risks are unwanted and potentially can cause serious problems and derail the project, positive risks, on the other hand, are opportunities and are desired by both the Project Manager and the stakeholders, and may positively affect the project, such as increasing the ROI or finishing the project ahead of time.
• Known negative risks have to be managed and accounted for in the risk management plan, this is the same for positive risks. However, positive risks are managed in order to take advantage of them and “tame them”.

Examples of Negative Risks

• The main programmer on the project quitting the job.
• Lack of construction material (such as concrete) because of political issues (such as hostile relations between 2 bordering countries) in case of a construction project.

Examples of Positive Risks

• Receiving much more than the expected number of subscribers on the launch date of the service (for example a new telecommunications service).
• Finishing a part of the project way before schedule and creating a lot of slack, as other resources are not scheduled to work on the project until much later.

  Note that positive risks can easily create negative risks, for example, in the case above where the telecom service gets a lot of subscribers on its launch date, then negative risks may possibly ensue, such as the inability of the switches to handle the load, the inability of the billing system to process all the calls, the clogging of the text messaging system, etc… These negative risks combined, can cause the whole service to fail, as people will be completely dissatisfied with the service. In short, positive risks are good but need to be accounted for and taken seriously.

  © 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.

  ---

Comments (1)

How Much Time Do You Need to Study for the PMP?

A common question on every non-certified Project Manager’s mind, is how much time do you need to study for the PMP exam.

The answer, of course, depends on the Project Manager. In case the Project Manager is junior, with very little experience (unfortunately some PMP applicants inflate their project management experience in order to be eligible to take the PMP exam), then a couple of months of very hard studying is the norm. In case the Project Manager is experienced, then a month of concentrated studying would be enough.

Note that before, it was easier to pass the exam for inexperienced Project Managers as a lot of questions were formula-based (such as the EVM formulas). Lately, however, it seems that PMI dramatically reduced the number of questions requiring the memorization of formulas and the use of a calculator (some recent PMP applicants have reported to have only seen a couple of such questions in their exam). On the other hand, PMI has substantially increased the focus on complex situational questions, for example: “Two excellent resources resent working with each other, and you need them on the same team, what will you do?” or “A functional manager is interfering with the normal flow of the project by removing resources off their scheduled tasks and giving them other, unrelated tasks. The functional manager “owns” the resources and has seniority over you, how will you handle the situation?”.

Now what makes the whole thing more complicated is that most of the times all the answers make sense in one way or another, but there’ll be one answer that will stand out. The correct answer is always based on PMI’s view of an ideal project management environment, which means that Project Managers are always able to say “No” to anyone and to prioritize the project over the stakeholders’ personal interests without getting fired. The knowledge of the latter concept alone will help Project Mangers a lot in passing their PMP exam. As mentioned before, it’s a good idea to answer questions you’re not sure as you will not be penalized for giving the wrong answers.

Now here’s a quick table explaining, based on the compilation of data from many sources, the time needed to study for the PMP. Note that the table only accounts for those who passed the PMP exam. The number of days has been rounded.

The “number of study days” does not include breaks, for example, in the last case, the total number of hours spent studying for the PMP exam is 150. The last case is very concentrated and is not recommended as the PMP applicant has to absorb too much information in too little time.

© 2010 Project Management Learning – Reproduction of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of Project Management Learning.