As we saw in Part 1, knowledge is power. So we should really examine what does proactive and reactive mean ? Proactive is when you action on an issue before the issue becomes an issue. Reactive is when the issue occurs and you are playing catch up. So I think you would agree that Proactive will be the better option for a successful project. Knowledge does not necessary to be from yourself only. A good project manager knows how to form his team so that he has the appropriate knowledge at hand to consult if you require. It is easier to leverage on the knowledge gained by others then to try to obtain all the knowledge yourself. So the second skill or power the Project Manager will need is to be able to build a good balance team with the appropriate balance of skills and knowledge as all as the personality to be able to work together.  

2012 begins and today is the first day of work for most people in this new year. If you have a project that is still ongoing and carried forward from 2011 then you may or may not have had a good holiday at the year end. Depending on where you are at in the project, you enjoyment of the year end holidays may be inversely propotionate to the issues that you are facing in the project. With the new year dawning, revisit these with fresh eyes and a new energy. Every issue is just an opportunity to make your project better. Wishing you a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR and a GREAT year ahead !

Defects are all part of any project. How you manage them will determine how successful the project is perceived to be. You may have many defects but managed well, you can still give your customers / partners a perception that the project is going well. Why do I use the word perception ? Because inherently people's view on how things are going are based on perceptions. This may or may not be anchored on the reality of the situation. Part of the skill of a good project manager is marketing the situation at hand. With good marketing skills, a good project manager can create an illusion that the project is going well while sorting out issues in the background. More on this in later postings. Defects are essentially tasks that were not in the original project plan due to oversight or lack of planning. So instead of tasks to be done earlier in the project, these will need to be inserted into the plan later on in the project life cycle or even in post implementation phase. How ...

A project flows like a river. Similarly the flow of traffic. In order to move ahead, you need to be able to gauge the speed of the traffic with the some moving faster and others moving slower then you. When changing lanes you need to view the object  behind you through your rear and side mirrors as well as where the road is heading. With a project, your need to know what tasks are in front of you, in the schedule which may or may not be dependent on the task, and and if there are any dependant activities that are lined up before inserting a task into the schedule. If you do not understand the flow of the project then you may insert a task too early hence it will divert your resources which can be better utilized at that point of time or too late which may mean that you may not be able to complete on time and worse still hold up other tasks that may be dependant on this particular task. Just as when you are driving in traffic, mis-timing changing lanes may cause tr...

My post yesterday discussed the learnings that we could obtain from our drive to work. Here are a few more observations that are along the same topic. Each project is like a journey. When you start your journey, you will have a few decision points in your journey which will determine how fast you will be able to reach your destination. Similarly there are several decision points when the project starts. Existing Resources Some of the decision points have been made earlier for example the car you are driving and the location of your residence so you will need to work within these as your starting point. In a project persepective, your resources may also already be pre-determined by decisions made earlier depending on the type of project eg. the number of team members and their skill sets, hardware, software etc. Timing to start The first decision point will be the time to start your journey. This will be made based on the information that you have and your previous...

Proper Ramp Up Planning Most projects then to run to a specific deadline where the end point is the project deployment date and stabilization. Stabilization is generally a 2 week period on the whole but can vary from project to project. Naturally this can also vary from industry to industry but the main concepts are ideally the same. In IT projects the stabilization period allows the project team to ensure any defects or errors that may have slip passed the initial IT and business user acceptance testing (UAT), are addressed. In the construction industry they would also have a similar period for home owners etc to lodge defect reports where the builders or construction company will be liable to fix. After this period, the support for the final project is handed over to the ongoing support team who would be a separate organization. This period should be set dependent on the type of project and the issues that arise. Although a there may be a standard guide like 2 weeks, this shoul...

Sufficient Reference Documentation Documentation is always the last thing to do in any project's list. No one really likes doing documentation so this is one of the lowest priority in anyone's list. We will do it later is the usual thought but unfortunately later usually never comes. Project Managers should always ensure that this is part and parcel of any activities in their plan and a gradual documentation along the way will ensure that there is no large pile of paper work to be done at the end of the project. This will ensure that there can be a proper transition for ongoing support as well as a reference point for current and future support team members as well future projects. Come end of the project and everyone moves on to other projects and tasks, the memories of the project team will diminish and who know even if they are engaged for future enhancements for the current project, their memory of what was done my not be as fresh so will involve another learning cur...

The proverbial question. It may be surprising that many people do not really know what is a project manager or really understand the role this position undertakes. Many would associate this role only with the construction industry. Now project managers fulfill an essential role in many industries outside of construction and provide one of the many essential elements to make project run successfully. This blog is dedicated to the many project managers who help to run projects in all aspects of industry and are often very much misunderstood. A definition provided in Wikipedia : A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, architecture, computer networking, telecommunications or software development. Seems over simplified but does bare out the role which project managers or PMs provide. This blog is named...