10 Principles of Good Project Management

1. There are no Technical projects, there are Business projects with Technical Components. Any initiative to develop new technical product is based on an external business need. As Project Managers we must understand the big picture. What is goal of business, and how can the technical expertise can add value to that goal.

2. Get involved early. Get involved early in the process of the project inception. Even if the question of needing resources hasn't been decided I try to participate in the initial meetings in order to get a better perspective of the business need. Plus I can usually add value by pointing out ways certain tasks can be accomplished with greater efficiency or the resources we have on hand and the best way to utilize them

3. One hour of planning today will save you two hours of work tomorrow. While I agree that too much planning can be a negative aspect, too often I have seen the "Let's just do it attitude", this always leads to unclear goals and projects that run into problems in all key areas.

4. If it's not written down it didn't happen. While I encourage open communication amongst all the staff members, in the end anything that could have an impact on the project, any item that is considered a formal decision must be written down, and put in the appropriate place (project documentation, issue logs...).

5. Don't kill the messenger. When people know that they can approach you, without reprisal, not only will that ensure that they will bring up any problems as soon as they are spotted, thus avoiding costly problems later on. But they will also feel free to come to you with new ideas that could lead to unexpected benefits to your project.

6. Address all issues, do it quickly and don't stop until a resolution has been found. There are many issues and problems that will arise on a project. Budget, scope, time, quality, and especially human resources. I have seen too many people on a project (even PM's) while acknowledging an issue, still ignored it because of it's complexity or lack of time. Even if you cannot resolve the issue immediately it's important to document it and discuss it with your team.

7. Don't be afraid to replace bad people. I don't say this lightly, but I have seen managers too often ignore problem employees due to fear of confrontation, or lack of understanding of the technical aspects of the employee's job. I would always confront and hope to change the attitude of a problem employee, if there are problems at home perhaps they need more time to deal with their personal issues, or perhaps they have been asked to perform a task beyond their capabilities and need more training.

8. Lead by Example. Hard work and honesty cannot be faked, if you try to inspire others to achieve certain goals make sure that you willing to work with them and exhibit the same attitude. If you are not ready to do as such, the people around you will quickly loose respect for you, and managing them will become a much tougher job.

9. Don't compartmentalize your staff. To many times I have come across where groups of different disciplines, Business Analysts, Developers and the QA / Test teams, are kept in silos with minimum cross communication. It's far more beneficial if you get the entire team to participate in the full project life cycle.

10. Don't lose your focus. Make sure the project sponsors think carefully about the products, or deliverables required, before the project begins. Make sure you can develop a clear vision that can be shared with the entire team. Your scope should be well defined any changes introduced during the project should be documented and evaluated. If a change is introduced the impact should be communicated to the entire team including the project sponsors.

Courtesy: Jessica Paul.

Do You “Own” Business Decisions Based on “Your” Data?

Data is the raw material of decision-making. Data is also what IT does. So, how far into the decision-making process should IT extend itself—including in terms of responsibility?

SAS and IDG recently conducted a survey of IT and business leaders about the role of analytics in an organization: who owns it, who advocates for it, who drives the projects. Perhaps not surprisingly, in most cases IT is the one pushing management to make better use of available business data. (The exceptions are organizations self identified as “data driven,” and in which, perhaps not surprisingly, IT and business share equally in analytic projects.)

But how far does that ownership go?

Said one IT leader: “IT are stewards of the data, databases, aggregations, manipulation tools, etc., while business owns the information and the resulting business decisions.”

Basic principle that seems to have relevance here: “IT must be the promoter of analytics initiatives, but never the sponsor.”

Courtesy: John Soat

Project Manager's Deliverable - Value

A project manager's job is to deliver value. Achieving the original schedule, budget, and features is meaningless if the customer does not receive value. As with all simple statements, this much easier said than accomplished. Projects managers must assemble adaptable teams that use flexible, lean methodologies. Arrogantly selling the latest technology or tool is narcissistic. Focus on the customer. Be vigilant at ensuring the information is always available for the customer to reassess the project's value and for the project team to reevaluate their proposal.

Maintaining Project Value

The first task is determining the customer's initial value objective. Most projects start with the premise that they provide considerable value. However, numerous assumptions are made in justifying that value. Many of these ill-founded hopes fail to survive the test of time, being proven false in the early stages of the project. As we all know, time begets change. Realities adjust as the customer learns about the product's possibilities, business models morph, and challenges arise in building the product. The project must transform to meet these needs and the project manager must lead thisshifting vision.

At times, it is more than a gradual shift. Elucidation of major difficulties, discovery of poorly understood requirements, and loss of business segments, name a few reasons to step back and reconsider the project's premise. The most radical change a project manager can propose is terminating the project. Once the projected value falls dangerously close to zero, the value proposition is invalid and the only sensible solution is ceasing the project. This is not failure. It isleadership at its finest.

Facilitating Increased Value

Value is the benefit less the cost. Costs are generally quantifiable; however, benefits are often intangible. Goodwill, trust, esthetics, and usability are but a few attributes that can add significant value to a product. In addition to developing the project's cost, project managers must help the customer enumerate all of the benefits.

For the customer to define value, project managers must supply the information on how the product will or could function. There are no constraints to the original concept, added costs, thrown away work, or extensions to the delivery date. The task is to objectivelydeliver the complete story and let the customer decide the next step.

This does not mean the project manager does everything the customer asks. The project manager must work with the customer's team and help them create their vision, understand their issues, and guide them toward a solution that delivers a value-laden product in the shortest possible time at the least cost.

Grooming the Team

This does not come from sitting at your desk working with spreadsheets. It comes from understanding the businesses needs, the state of the deliverable, the team's capabilities, and the challenges of selling change.

Developing the customer's confidence and trust is the first step. A cohesive, agile, dynamic team is the primary ingredient in doing so. Integrate your teams with the customer, educate them on the customer's business, and immerse them in the customer's pain. This creates a responsive and customer focused team. It reduces the tendency of teams to build products with the latest gadgets that add little to the value.

Maintaining confidence is more difficult. This requires a culture and methodology that is adaptive. Too many times, we use draconian processes to manage projects—methodologies that strive for operational excellence as opposed to product excellence. Granted, some customers (i.e., healthcare or military) require a thorough paper trail for every functional outcome, no matter how low its probability of occurrence. These are far from a majority of projects. Even in these projects, it is worth questioning the validity of the overhead and proposing new solutions.

Averting Failure

Delivering a project's features and functions on time and within budget is incommensurate with a successful project and a happy customer. Dozens of environmental factors affect a project's value. Successful project managers carefully watch these factors and lead the customer through the process of discovery, defining appropriate changes that maximize their project's value. Losing sight of the project's value will inevitably result in failure.

Achieving executive balance: Nine ways leaders and managers work together

Anyone who follows business literature can easily track the rise and fall of leadership and managementas opposed disciplines. Sometimes the demand is for more vision andinspiration; other times, it's for more measurement and control. Fundamentally,though, the two disciplines cannot work apart.

Leadership without management can't sustain change or improve the now. At the same time, management without leadership is a soulless endeavor best suited to controlling the actions of spoiled children.

#1: Leaders inspire; Managers measure

When leaders finish speaking, the listeners want to go out and change the world. They get fired up and moving, willingly facing problems they would have ignored before. This energy gradually fades until the leader reestablishes it.

When managers finish speaking, everyone knows what is expected of them, how it will be measured, and what results to expect. In other words, they know exactly what they have to do. This knowledge remains valid until the goal changes.

#2: Leaders guide, Managers navigate

Leaders give their followers a general idea of where they want to take the team. The team members then do their level best to get from the current state to the future state,using the skills they posses to cover the gap.

When managers describe what they want done, they includes clear instructions regarding the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the gap plan. The team then enacts theplan in a, hopefully anyway, organized fashion.

#3: Leaders envision, Managers maintain

Leaders speak about the future as if it already exists. They see it, taste it, and can sometimes even feel it just out of reach. This vision allows them to show the team what could be, lifting them out of habitual ruts.

Managers speak about what they currently see and measure. They explain clearly how things operate and identify metrics to further refine that operation. These metrics may help change; more often, they reinforce existing habitual behaviors.

#4: Leaders talk, Managers listen

The essence of leadership lies in knowing when to talk and what to say to reach your team. Sometimes that means sitting silently. The Japanese say "eloquence issilver, silence is golden" for a reason. Regardless of technique, though,leaders' immediate goals always revolve around opening the way to communicate avision to their target audience.

The essence of management lies in knowing when to gather data and what data points are needed to manipulate the team or the political environment. Managers listen carefully, make notes, and then come to a decision about the situation as it exists in the immediate world.

#5: Leaders support, Managers teach

The very best leader I ever worked for asked me, "What can I do for you today?" every day,without fail. If I needed resources, he found them; if I needed time, he got deadlines pushed back. He gave me the support and the space I needed to excelor fall flat on my face.

The very best manager I ever worked for asked me, "Do you need any help?" every day without fail. If I needed training, he arranged for it; if I didn't know how to handle something, he taught me how to do it himself. Whenever I came upon something I didn't know, I knew he could show me how to do it.

#6: Leaders hope, Managers analyze

Leaders sometimes seem unattached to reality. Their focus on the future, on a vision of whatcould be, gives them great hope with which to weather trials. It also sometimes leads them to ignore problems that honestly need addressing before the futurecan come to be.

Managers, on the other hand, clearly see the present with all its warts and flaws. This clarity gives them the ability to resolve current issues; it also can create a loop inwhich they can't change things because they know only "the way things havealways been done."

#7: Leaders authorize, Managers direct

Leaders expand theirscope of action by authorizing their followers to act within a scope. This authorization carries with it a part of the leader's own authority and entrusts the subordinate with a part of the leader's vision.

Managers expand their scope of action by directing subordinates within their team to perform specifictasks or processes until they reach a specific end point. This direction doesnot empower the subordinate with the manager's authority; it does, however,have definite boundaries and a finite duration.

#8: Leaders rally, Managers retrench

When things gowrong, leaders gather their team together, reestablish the vision, inspire thegroup, and then go out to protect them while they deal with the situation. Leaders stand up, do what's right, and accept the consequences of their team's actionsas their own. The team continues to work and react in the background.

When things gowrong, managers gather their team together, identify the exact problem, createa plan to address it, assign tasks, and dispatch the team with strictinstructions. Assuming the initial analysis identified the problem and no other problems arise, the team will quickly resolve the issue and then return to normal operation.

#9: Leaders expect, Managers demand

Finally, leaders expect particular behaviors from their followers. They want specific types of integrity, work ethic, and methods of communication. Leaders know their team borders on functional when everyone within the team behaves in the same way.

Managers, on the other hand, demand specific outputs from their subordinates at particulartimes. They derive these demands either from established role documentation,agreed-upon dates, or expectations set during meetings. These demands tie back to established success metrics for the manager, the team, or both.

Success requires both

Management has garnered a bad name for itself over the years,for a wide variety of reasons. However, it is still a vital part of every ITand business environment. Without it, all the leadership in the world can't create a sustainable change. Of course, the opposite also holds true. Without leadership, management does little more than defend the status quo against change.

Courtesy: TechRepublic

Leadership vs. management: Understand the differences

Leadership and management are opposing disciplines, but the reality is that the two disciplines cannot work apart. This episode of Sanity Savers for IT executives looks at five ways that leadership and management roles complement and depend upon each other.

Leadership and management are opposing disciplines. Sometimes the demand is for more vision and inspiration from leader, while other times it’s for more measurement and control from managers. But the reality is that the two disciplines cannot work apart. This episode of Sanity Savers for IT executives looks at five ways that leadership and management roles complement and depend upon each other.

Courtesy: Techrepublic