CPR for Projects

By Joel Way PMP

 

The question that we were asked by senior IT management, after they listened to a presentation of the full scope of our planned initiative to improve project management, was… “Tell us the three most important things we should do differently, right now, so we can make an impact.”

 

I brought to the table 34 years of industry experience that included 16 years in management and much of that in project management. I was a devotee of PMI and the nine knowledge areas. I was in the training function at the IBM site in Rochester, Minnesota when we achieved the Malcolm Baldridge award. I had been on many process improvement teams including an ISO certification readiness team. I had managed large international projects and very messy cross-functional projects within the United States. Three things? What three things would be the most important? My professional project management journey was to be summed up into three things. I needed CPR. Come to think of it…that was the answer…CPR.

 

Charter, Plan, Report…a Project Charter, a Project Plan and Performance Reporting.

 

The Project Charter identifies key project factors such as business need, scope and the approach that will be used on the project. It also provides an order of magnitude estimate…an approximate view of the resources, timeline, risks and other decision factors. As we implement it, the Project Charter requires signatures from key stakeholders. In retrospect…just the signature page alone may have been enough to start the ball rolling toward improvement in the discipline of applying sound project practices. The “deal” as I often refer to it…was not being made. People were just not sitting down, face to face, and agreeing on the “deal”…let alone signing off on it. To me it was a question of why we were not using business discipline when spending Company money? We would never abandon such discipline when spending our own money. Here’s an analogy…after a car accident…we take it in to get fixed…a person estimates how much it will cost…a “deal” is documented and presented to us for our signature. The “deal” outlines the elements of the estimate, how much it will cost, when the job will be done and stipulates that we will be involved (called) if the actual cost is likely to overrun by some amount (my experience has been 10%). We sign the deal and the project gets underway. We would never think of handling this type of project, with our money involved, in any manner other than this. Why then, has it become so foreign to bring this level of discipline to project investments when the company assets are in play? A Project Charter is useful in making the “deal” formal and reasonably clear at this point in time.

 

I’ll come back to the Project Plan since the other anchor to these three required practices is really the Performance Reporting. As stated on our internal web site… “The Project Performance Report is a way to provide the project stakeholders with information about how resources are being used to achieve project objectives. The report provides status information (where we are), progress information (accomplishments since the last report), and forecast information (projections for the next “period”). The Project Performance report is a vehicle for sitting down face-to-face with the project stakeholders and determining the essential question…. “How’s it going?” It also is essential as a means for keeping communication lines open with everyone involved.

 

As is the case with a Project Charter…so it is with Project Performance reporting…the level of detail is conditional based on the particular characteristics of the project. Each should contain the level of detail necessary to optimize the outcome. Note, I did not say guarantee success. The project management investment component of an ROI for guaranteeing success can quickly get out of whack with the overall project budget. The wise project manager will apply the right amount of project process discipline that will get the best and most tolerable bang for the buck.

 

Again, as stated on our web site… “The Project Plan is the result of the detailed planning effort. Whereas the Project Charter provides conceptual information, the Project Plan provides detailed information about the project and product scope, schedule, costs, staff, risks, assumptions, and more. Management plans are also included that identify how changes to scope, quality, schedule, cost and risk will be managed. When approved, the Project Plan guides both the execution and control of the project.”

 

But…how much detail and in what form? Again, the wise project manager gives a metered response that is appropriate to the characteristics of the project at hand. A contrasting experience comes to mind. I was the Project Manager on a multimillion dollar project for an overseas customer. The level of detailed planning and the planning artifacts (documents of all types) were numerous and necessary. The customer also paid handsomely for a full time Project Manager, Project Leader, Database Administrator, Software Integrator, Project Engineer and also paid for a part-time Project Scheduler. The question as to how much detail and in what form the project management artifacts would be in was not in doubt. On the other hand, shortly after leading this project, I “inherited” a messy state-side project which grew out of a larger contract that had failed miserably. Regardless of the history of the predecessor project, the customer paid for approximately 20% of a Project Manager. Given the state of affairs and the customer relations at the time I got involved, the temptation was to over manage this project. Just because I could was no reason to do so. I did meet with the customer and simply laid it out to them that they paid for a part-time Project Manager and as such they could expect certain things from me. The customer was delighted with that. Delighted? Yes, as it turns out, no one had properly set expectations with them on the larger project and the mismatch between their expectations and what they got was a major source of their past unhappiness.

 

I believe it was President Truman who said something along the lines of “the least common commodity is common sense.” When it comes to Project Management it often isn’t how much you know but knowing when to selectively apply what you know to the project situation you’re faced with…using project management common sense.

 

Applying the appropriate amount of CPR will free up your project “triage” staff to leverage their skills in the most optimum manner.