Project Selection

For project selection, the Project Management Institute's (PMI's) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide assumes you have more than one project from which to choose. By analyzing the options, you can determine which has the greatest value to the company. The formal method for choosing the best option is called a project selection method.

 

Suppose I have to choose between

• fixing my child's favorite meal and leftovers for my wife, or
• fixing my spouse's favorite and cheese mac for my child.

So I ask, "which gives me the better Return on Investment (ROI)?" To answer the question, I consider

• How much time and money it will take
• How much of a mess I will have to clean up
• Does it align with my goals (fun vs. study time)
• Rewards (somebody else WILLINGLY taking out the trash)
• How long it will take to reap the rewards
• Risks (what if I overcook the macaroni? or burn the steak?)

A Project Manager (PM) will place a priority on each criterion and score the probable outcomes. The sum of the weighted scores for each option yields a total score for that option.

I did this with my daughter last year when she needed to buy a car. The result surprised me and was not at all what I expected, but it turned out to be a great choice.

The primary use of project selection is for choosing between projects. However, one can also used it during the project life cycle. The projected ROI of a project can change, for example, due to changing market or regulatory conditions. If the ROI falls, it might be worth canceling the project so the funds and resources can be applied to a more promising project. This is a special case of selecting between competing opportunities.

 

The executives of a company I won't name signed a contract to deliver a product on a certain date. If the company failed to deliver on that date, the company would have to pay liquidated damages; and if the company canceled the project, it would have to pay penalties.

 

Unfortunately, the executives failed to have Engineering review the contract. It turned out that the company could not meet the deadline. The PM tried schedule compression, but as risks turned into issues, it became clear that the project could not meet its deadline.

 

What should they have done? The company should have used the project selection method to choose between

• Completing the project and paying the liquidated damages
• Canceling the project and paying the penalties.

Remember, the considerations aren't always directly related to the project. Things such as the company's reputation, the future value of establishing a market presence, or future business based on this project's design work have value, too. For example, cell phone companies often sell cell phones at a loss because they make their money on the service contracts.

Copyright 2011, Richard Wheeler

Project Management Career Path

In terms of study, what path should one take to become a project manager?

First, unless you have several years of project management work experience, I would suggest obtaining the Project Management Institute's (PMI's) Certified Associate Project Manager (CAPM) certification. After that, study the qualifications for the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and create a plan based on those qualifications. The plan should include studying PMI's Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) Guide and added studies based on the PMBOK Guide's process knowledge areas.

Second, familiarize yourself with the International Counsel on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Systems Engineering Body of Knowledge (SEBOK). After achieving PMP certification, pursue INCOSE's certifications. PMI certification will give you a top-down perspective across all departments whereas INCOSE's certifications will give you a bottom-up understanding of the engineering processes and products.

Studying these two knowledge areas in this order should provide a faster path, on paper, to project management and beyond. However, if you would prefer a career path leading to a Chief Engineer title, you might reverse the order. Pursing Engineering in Training (EIT) and then Professional Engineer (PE) certifications would be valuable on the technical career path, too.

Third, study people, develop lots of relationships (focus on the personal aspects and what you can do for them, not on what you can get out of them), and find at least one mentor other than your supervisor. These are critical.

Politics and the Project

Question:

Cultural norms include a common knowledge regarding how to approach getting things done. It also takes into account formal and informal leaders who exist in almost every organization. Most organizations have developed unique cultures that manifest themselves in many ways. Which attributes of a company culture is NOT consistent with the discussion of cultural "norms"?

A. shared vision, values, beliefs, expectations
B. policies, methods and procedures
C. consistent political views
D. view of authority relationships

I was given answer as "C".

Shared vision, values, beliefs, expectations; political views; and views of authority relationships are all cultural factors. Each is a valid topic of discussion to the degree that it affects the project and the organization.

Political views include both those related to national government and those related to the company goals, culture, and hierarchy.

Western employees are taught that religious and political views are inappropriate topics. However, Political Correctness (PC) is alive and well. For example, some countries suppress "subversive" or "counter revolutionary" political views. This can affect project success.

Even in the USA, many employers will fire you if you oppose certain movements such as homosexual marriage or affirmative action (discrimination in favor of disadvantaged minorities). The reasoning goes like this:

• Diversity has value.
• People who oppose a PC (politically correct) view create a workplace that is hostile to favored minorities and an atmosphere where conflict may arise.
• This hurts members of those minorities, limits diversity, subjects the company to legal liability, and disrupts teamwork.
• Thus, inconsistent political views concerning some topics can hurt the project.

You don't have to like PC, but it exists. PMs have to deal with it and sometimes even enforce it.

Consider a different meaning of "political views:" Every organizational hierarchy has "office politics." Competition, conflicting opinions, and popularity can affect whom you can rely on. A stakeholder or resource may oppose you, or others may not support your resource. Such factors affect how one succeeds in getting things done.

We may say (C) is an inappropriate topic, but political views are certainly a part of cultural norms, and some version of PC is enforced anywhere you go. Moreover, the question is not, "what is appropriate," but "which attributes of a company culture is [sic] not consistent with the discussion of cultural 'norms'?"  (C) cannot be correct.

While culture may affect policies, methods, and procedures, they are classified not as part of the enterprise environment (that is, external factors that affect the project), but rather as organizational process assets. (B) is correct.

Copyright (C) 2013, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for use not involving publication.

Buyers versus Users

The new project manager (PM) or systems engineer (SEs) knows that the Seller, the person or organization providing deliverable products or services, must fulfill the scope defined by the Buyer. The Seller and Buyer usually negotiate a Project Scope Description which the project Sponsor includes in the Project Charter. Details of the project scope description may be found in the contract, Statement of Work, and any subsequent approved Change Requests.

 

The PM also knows that the Project Requirements must detail the project scope through requirements analysis and through creation of a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) that has enough granularity to define project tasks at a manageable level.

 

New PMs or SEs may overlook the importance of a third party: Users.

 

Users are people or organization who put their hands on the product or receive the service. The Buyer may or may not be the User. For example, as part of a project to set up a business office, a manager (the Buyer) may want to buy spreadsheet software for his analysts (Users).

 

In one contract, my company upgraded communications equipment for an agency (the Buyer) that needed new types of signal channels. The Buyer owned the equipment, but another contractor provided the operators, and yet other agencies utilized the communication channels.

 

Even though we took our direction from our contract with the Buyer, we coordinated with the third-party Users to validate the Buyer's requirements. Unhappy Users would have been reflected by an unsatisfied Buyer, which would have cost us future business.

 

The PM must gain acceptance from the Buyer by satisfying the requirements. However, in many projects, the PM must also define the requirements in enough detail to ensure that they reflect the Buyer's needs. This implies added responsibilities:

• The differences between needs and requirements must be identified as early as possible in order to prevent expensive changes later.
• If meeting the needs increases the scope, schedule, or cost, the PM must inform the Buyer and negotiate changes as soon as possible.
• The PM needs the courage to help the Buyer understand what he needs and what he will not receive.
• Enough time should be spent during the planning phase of a project to ensure that meeting the scope, requirements, and needs will result in a happy Buyer.

Returning to the example in the first paragraph: The manager may think he can get by with Lotus 1-2-3 (ca. 2000), but the analysts are familiar with Excel 2007 and need the new functions that come with Excel 2013. The PM needs to advise the Buyer to take a class in computer literacy.

Copyright (C) 2013, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for use not involving publication.
Expand this commen

Project Cancellation

While you are directing and managing your project execution, your sponsor tells you that your project has just been terminated. Will you complete Verify Scope process before closing your project?

Yes, verify scope provides an opportunity for the PM and the sponsor to document the project status at that moment... that can be used for lessons learnt as well for future projects. (Name withheld)

No.

Process 5.4, Verify Scope is the process of formalizing acceptance of the completed project deliverables and includes reviewing deliverables with the customer or sponsor to ensure that they are completed satisfactorily and obtaining formal acceptance of deliverables.... (PMBOK) Since the project has been canceled, no more deliverables will be accepted. Completing the Verify Scope process would waste resources.

 

Exceptions not indicated by the question

• The terms of a cancellation could include acceptance of whatever has been completed.
  
• The company could preserve the deliverables in their current state for use in future projects, in which case, knowing their quality would have value.

Note 1: If one traces the flow of outputs from the Verify Scope process, the next step for any Accepted Deliverable is process 4.6, Close Project or Phase.

 

Note 2: Documenting the project status at the time of cancellation would start with Work Performance Measurements produced by following process 5.5, Control Scope, the process of monitoring the status of the project and product scope and managing changes to the scope baseline. (PMBOK).

 

The PM would then follow process 10.5, Report Performance, to analyze the project's progress, producing Performance Reports. For the final step, following process 4.4, Monitor and Control Project Work, the PM updates Project Documents, including performance reports and issue logs. (The PM would also make other updates to Project Documents during that preceding processes.)

 

Note 3: Non-accepted deliverables would be subject to the Direct and Manage Project Execution or Perform Quality Control processes (and their design and production partner processes). The Direct and Manage Project Execution and the Close Project of Phase processes might invoke some sort of Disposal process to handle the non-accepted deliverables.

Copyright (C) 2013, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for use not involving publication.

Handling a Customer's Wishes

Under what circumstances might change requests to the project's scope be denied? How can i handle a customer's wishes if the scope change is not approved.

Short answer: The Project Manager's (PM's) job is to handle the project's requirements, not to handle the customer's unfunded wishes.

Scope changes always affect schedule, cost, quality, resources, and/or risk. A PM will not approve a change that negatively affects those constraints unless it is necessary in order to meet other, higher-priority constraints. 

Obviously, if adding a bell means going over budget and falling behind schedule, the PM will disapprove it. On the other hand, if the customer will not accept the project because the whistle toots with the wrong tone, then the PM may approve spending more to tune the whistle. 

Remember, these are business decisions. At some point, the penalties for cancelling a project may cost less than the cost of completing it.

The above deals mostly with changes requested internally. If the customer requests a change, the PM will present the customer with the effects (cost, schedule, ...) of the change. The customer then bears responsibility to sponsor or reject the change. 

As always, this is a business decision. Even if the customer will bear the cost, extend the schedule, and forgive any realized risks or impacts on quality, the available whistle-tuners may have been committed to another project (inadequate resources), or the loss of reputation (even though the customer specified the wrong tone) may hurt the business in the long run.

To "handle the customer," get out your requirements traceability matrix and present the effects of the change on the scope. Then present the effects of the change on cost, schedule, etc.

Copyright (C) 2012, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for use not involving publication.

In Business, Take Time to Do the Calculations

In Business, Take Time to Do the Calculations


Reference:  Weiser, Matt . California Parks Director Resigns Amid Scandal. Sacramento Bee. Friday, 20 July 2012.

As California balances between eternal debt and bankruptcy, the Democrats in Sacramento look for excuses to raise taxes and spending. One such excuse, the shortfall of funds to keep California State Parks open, has forced many volunteers into fundraising and forced local governments into shifting their own funds into keeping state parks open to draw tourist dollars.

The Sacramento Bee found that a deputy director at State Parks "carried out a secret vacation buyout program for employees at department headquarters last year. That buyout cost the state more than $271,000." This led to a much larger find: The State Parks department his hiding $54 million in unspent funds.

State Parks Director Ruth Coleman resigned after the Bee published news of the stash. The employee who bought back vacation time had already been demoted and later resigned. His crime, in my opinion, discriminated between his friends at the headquarters and those who work equally hard in the field.

I believe the withholding of funds could only happen in concert with Democrat attempts to extort more taxes from the public. That's how Democrats do things in California government.

The gem in the original story follows: For the sake of argument, let's assume we have two employees:

1. Mr. Buyout sells his vacation time back to the state.
   Mr. Vacation enjoys taking time off to go protest with OWS.
2. Vacation is earned over the course of the year.
   Both employees make $50/hour.
3. Both have 160 hours/month x 12 months/year (rounding) and 40 hours vacation

This means

• Mr. Buyout works 1920 hours for 1960 hours' pay.
  Mr. Vacation works 1880 hours for 1920 hours' pay. 
• Mr. Buyout makes $98,000.
  Mr. Vacation makes $96,000. 
• Mr. Buyout has an effective pay rate of $51.042 per hour.
  Mr. Vacation has an effective pay rate of $51.064 per hour.

Mr. Buyout actually makes 2 cents per hour less.

Two cents/hour is not much, but consider a couple more factors.

First, when you add in the effects of benefits and overhead, the difference multiplies to 3 to 4 cents per hour. Employers love forcing employees to work overtime because the benefits are paid for by the first 1920 hours' labor. With benefits costing 50% to 100% of the base pay, that means employee overtime effectively costs 33%-50% less (assuming pay at straight time rates, if any).

On a tangent, managers often put their directs in a position where overtime is forced and vacation is denied. Both practices hinder productivity and morale. When employees forced to work lose unused vacation, it amounts to stealing. Therefore, vacation buyouts often form an ethically necessary action.

Second, if you multiply 2 cents/hour over a year and thousands of employees, the added productivity and lowered effective cost create a good deal for the taxpayers.

Conclusion: The state punished the fellow who conducted the buyouts for doing a good thing. THAT, dear friend, is California government, just as much as hiding funds to force increased taxes. The business-related point is, "do the math." The worker who violates procedure may have done so because it was right for the company and simply, ethically right.