Archive for Project Management

| July 14, 2018
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The Lost Art of Effective Flow Charts

The Lost Art of Effective Flow ChartsPracticing project managers know that there are many times when reality clashes with the PMI world. One of the real-world PMI visions of PM life is the “Business Analyst” role. Despite what the Project Management Institute (PMI) thinks, PMs have to do other jobs. One of the “non-PM” jobs I often have to take on is “Business Analyst.” and one of the Business Analyst tools I often use are flow charts.

Flow chartYes, the flow charts that we learned about in high school Basic computer programing class. The flow chart can help you communicate with your business users better. A well-done flow chart can describe and break down a process for easier explanation and help you improve a process. More importantly, creating a flow chart helps you understand the process and look for improvements.  It also helps you focus on each individual step, without feeling overwhelmed by the bigger picture.

Flow charts are one of the 7 basic Tools and Techniques called out in the PMBOK Project Quality Management knowledge area. The other PMBOK Quality Management tools and techniques are histogram, Pareto chart, check sheet, control chart, cause-and-effect diagram, and scatter diagram. (rb- Know this for the PMP exam)  The is an ISO standard for flow charts, ISO 5807:1985 – Information processing — Documentation symbols and conventions for data, program and system flowcharts, program network charts, and system resources charts for $120.00 US.

Flow Chart Basics – To draw a flowchart, develop a list of the tasks and decisions made during a process, and write them down in order. Enter the purpose (start/stop/decision/etc.) of each symbol within the shape and connect them with arrows to show the direction of the flow.

Flow Charts are usually drawn using standard symbols; however, some special symbols can also be used when required. If you use non-standard symbols people may not understand them and you will fail to clearly communicate your message. Below are some commonly used symbols for charting processes…

Start - StopUse this shape to represent an event which occurs automatically. Such an event will trigger a subsequent action, for example 'receive telephone call', start or stop.
ProcessUse a rectangle to represent an event which is controlled within the process. Typically this will be a step or action which is taken. In most flowcharts this will be the most frequently used symbol.
Connector
 Use a line with an arrow to indicate the direction of the process flow.
DecisionUse the diamond shape to represent a decision point in the process. Typically, the statement in the symbol will require a 'yes' or 'no' response and branch to different parts of the flowchart accordingly.
SubroutineThis shape is used to represent a pre-defined process. The text in the shape should be a descriptive name of the process it represents. The process that it represents must be defined elsewhere.
DocumentFlowchart Document SymbolUse this shape to for a process step that produces a document.
PauseThis shape is used to indicate a waiting period.
On page linkUse a pair of circles to replace long or confusing lines on a flowchart page.  The name or reference for the other process should appear within the symbol.
Off page linkUse this shape to represent a point at which the flowchart connects with another on another page . The name or reference for the other process should appear within the symbol.

The following are some flowcharting tips:

  1. Keep it simple
  2. Begin by listing each step of the process using the symbols above – just put your ideas on paper (screen?) and correct them from there. It will surprise you how much you learn about your organization in this process.
  3. The usual direction of the flow is from left to right or top to bottom.
  4. Put an arrowhead on the flow line to show the decision process.
  5. Only one flow line should come out from a process symbol.
  6. Only one flow line should enter a decision symbol, but two or three flow lines, one for each possible answer, should leave the decision symbol.
  7. Only use one flow line in conjunction with the terminal symbol.
  8. Use only brief descriptions in standard flow chart symbols. If needed, use an annotation call-out to describe the step more clearly.
  9. Use two on-page reference symbols to cut the number of flow lines in a complex diagram.
  10. Avoid crossing flow lines.
  11. Ensure that the flowchart has a logical start and finish.
  12. Challenge your flow chart to make sure that it’s an accurate representation of the process.

You can use Microsoft (MSFT) Visio, Word, or even Excel to build flowcharts. There are a number of flow chart creation tools online – Draw.io, Pencil Project (“free”) Gliffy online (“free”).

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flow charingYou can use the flow chart as a process improvement tool. Make sure that it represents the current state and then you can use it to discuss changes to the process with your users to make sure it represents the most efficient way of doing the process.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Project Management | Tags: , , , , , , ,
| June 29, 2018
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Software Testing and the Project Manager

Software Testing and the Project ManagerShh- don’t tell PMI, but as practicing Project Manager’s we all know that resources are limited. Sometimes the PMBOK process just won’t work. Resources are limited. One of the most limited resources I see is testers. After all, nobody wants to pay for someone to try to break things all day long – That’s what users are for. That is why a Project Manager can find themselves taking on the additional task of validating and testing software.

For the uninitiated, there is a difference in mindset between validating and testing. When you are checking that the finished product meets your project requirements, you are validating.

  • Add a new customer? Check!
  • Edit a customer? Check!
  • Don’t permit deleting customers who have transactions associated with them?

Testing, however, shouldn’t be so structured. And there are some good tricks from Stout Systems that a project manager can rely on to find some bugs.

Software testingDo stupid stuff

When writing code, developers know what kind of data is supposed to go into a field. Good developers will error-check to make sure that stupid data isn’t being entered. But that doesn’t always happen. So when testing, try to enter numbers where letters go or letters where numbers go. Try to enter symbols—especially symbols that are used in programming like the various kinds of brackets <> or {} or () and the various punctuation marks like ! or @ or # or &. (rb– Make your CISO happy and read up on SQL Injection attacks and try a few of them.)

Another stupid thing to do is to be click-happy. Click on one control and then another control before the application has a chance to execute the first action. Impatient users do this all the time, as do users who have mistakenly clicked the wrong place.

Get two copies of the same web page open, delete something from one place, and then try to edit it in the other place. You’ll blow it up most of the time, and get an unintelligible error message.

Open a page up, do nothing, click the SUBMIT button. You should get validation errors that tell you that you didn’t fill in the required fields. But an amazing number of times the application will just blow up on you with another unintelligible error message.

Regression test

One of the most common problems in software development is that adding a new feature causes something else to break. Regression testing is testing what was there before to make sure that it still works—just as it did before. If you were previously able to add, edit, and delete customers—but only if no transactions were associated with them—then by George you should start your testing by making sure that you can still do this.

Regression testThis should include using test records that you created before, too. So you add a new customer, edit the newly added customer… good, still works. Now open up a test customer you created previously. Can you still edit it? Maybe not! The new feature may have added fields to the database. The old records don’t have any information in those fields—but the information is marked as required—and the application cannot handle it.

The author points out that one of the biggest shortcomings she has witnessed in developer testing is that they test the new feature, sometimes with many use cases, but they don’t go back to validate that everything from before still works. It is lazy, lazy, lazy not to have someone on the team regression test the full application unless you are certain that the new features couldn’t have touched the old ones. But…hmm…are you really certain?

validate that everything from before still worksLook at things like a user

Developers are notoriously bad at certain niceties. Deliberately produce error cases and then read the error message that you receive. Is the message in techno-speak or is it easy to understand? Does it have typos? Grammatical errors?

Are the labels for the controls properly spelled? Is the capitalization consistent? The author says she often sees a mix of title case (where nearly every word is capitalized) and sentence case (where only the first word is capitalized). Some developers capitalize every word they think is important. Let’s face it: they didn’t major in English, so they shouldn’t be expected to get these things right. But there is no reason the application should be released widely with such simple-to-fix mistakes.

Look at the user interface itself. Are columns aligned in the layout? Are the margins uniform? If there is a style guide, is it being followed (the right colors, the right fonts, the right point sizes, the right button types, etc.).

Look at things like a userCan you understand what you’re supposed to be doing? Sometimes a simple thing like changing the text used for a label on a control makes a big difference. And sometimes adding a tool-tip with an explanation that’s too long for a label makes a big difference.

Then check out the workflow

Can you actually get around in the application? Or do you need more navigational controls to take you where you want to go? If it’s frustrating to you, then count on it being frustrating to an end-user.

Use IE. The article says most developers prefer Google Chrome, so that’s the browser where all of their testing is done. He makes it a habit to do all of his testing in Internet Explorer. Each browser has peculiarities, so this exposes a number of bugs that developers never encounter. (rb- Will you have control of what browser the users will access your site from? Don’t forget about older versions, Firefox, Safari, IE 9 anybody?)

Its not rocket scienceNone of the things that are described above are rocket science. A good tester is going to do things substantially more like a rocket scientist than a Business Analyst or Technical Writer will ever achieve—test automation, database comparisons, validating data outputs, calculations, etc. But all the areas above, when tested and fixed, go a long way to improving the end user’s experience and acceptance of the released product.

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This kind of software testing will help the team develop much less fragile or brittle code. That saves a lot of heartache in the long run.

Happy bug hunting!

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Project Management | Tags: , , , ,
| December 18, 2017
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PDU’s for PMP’s

PDU's for PMP'sIt’s almost a new year. Is your New Years’ resolution to get your Project Management Institute (PMI) mandated professional development units (PDU’s) for the year completed? Well, it should be…  Here is a list of PM training resources to help you earn those PMI PDU’s. I hope you find these resources helpful!

Most of these fall under the PMI Self-Study (PDU Category C) requirements. If you take part in any of these activities and it was relevant to project management, had a specified purpose, and used knowledgeable resources then you can claim 1 PDU for each hour spent on this as “self-study”. There are a maximum of 30 PDU’s for this and any other Category C activities per recertification period (3 years).

Reading for PDU’s

You can earn up to 30 PMI (Category C) PDU’s by reading books. Some of the recommended include:

Results Without Authority: Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn’t Report to You by Tom Kendrick – It’s hard enough to lead a project when you’re the boss. Leading a project team that doesn’t report to you is a whole new challenge in itself. Mr. Kendrick walks through how to motivate a team to contribute to a project’s success.

Earn Category C PDUs by reading booksAlpha Project Managers: What the Top 2% Know That Everyone Else Does Not by Andy Crowe – Using data from a survey of more than 800 project managers from around the world, Mr. Crowe looks at what traits and practices make the top 2% of PM’s rise above the rest. Readers will walk away with actionable steps they can take to rise to the top.

Delivering Bad News in Good Ways: Turn Difficult Conversations into Purposeful Dialogue, Positive Outcomes, & Focused Results in 3 Easy Steps by Alison Sigmon – While there are a lot of books out there about the proper ways to deliver bad news, this one is directed at PMs. Ms. Sigmon gives project managers a defined process to not only break the bad news but also improve communication over the long term.

Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management by Scott Berkun – Drawing from his years leading technology projects at Microsoft (MSFT), Mr. Berkun offers readers field-tested philosophies and strategies for defining, leading, and managing projects. If you’re leading technology projects, this is a must-read.

Adaptive Project Management: Leading Complex and Uncertain Projects by Andy Silber – Mr. Silber presents a new methodology, Adaptive Project Management, in this book. He explains how to succeed or fail fast for projects that are too uncertain to use waterfall project management and too complex to succeed with agile project management.

The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker – An oldie but a goodie. Don’t let the title dissuade you from reading. Mr. Drucker’s lessons about time management, prioritization, and effective decision-making can be applied to any knowledge worker.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen – The book that started it all; this is the definitive guide to GTD. In the age of multitasking and information overload, Getting Things Done is the book we need to find focus.

Getting Things Done. In this podcast enhancement to the book.  Mr. Allen talks with people who are in different stages of their GTD journey and offers practical tips for building your own GTD systems.

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande – Mr. Gawande, a renowned surgeon, and New Yorker writer, is a proponent of the simple checklist. At first glance, the subject sounds like it could be just another dry how-to book, but his anecdotes and writing skills take this one to another level. He expertly blends storytelling, science, and productivity.

The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy by Chris Bailey – After college, Mr. Bailey turned down two lucrative job offers and instead funneled his energy into chronicling productivity experiments on his blog. This book has the results of these experiments, plus interviews with leading productivity experts and 25 takeaway lessons that the reader can apply to everyday life.

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg – Mr. Duhigg explains the science of how habits work — and how we can change them. About 40% of the actions we do in a day are habits — so we’re on autopilot for almost half our life. Identifying what triggers your habits is key.

Podcasts for PDU’s

Earn PMI Category C PDUs by listening to podcastssYou can earn up to 30 PMI (Category C) PDU’s by listening to podcasts. Some good ones are:

The Project Management Podcast. Hosted by Cornelius Fitcher, the PM Podcast has more than 300 free and paid podcasts. He brings in PM experts to talk about a variety of topics, everything from how to become a PM to managing unknown risks.

The People and Projects Podcast. Andy Kaufman interviews experts on PM, productivity, and management on his People and Projects Podcast. He releases a new podcast every three to four weeks.

The Lazy Project Manager. Hosted by Peter Taylor, this podcast began in 2013 after he published his best-selling book by the same name. Mr. Taylor is described as “one of the most entertaining and inspirational speakers in project management today.” Topics and themes really run the gamut on this podcast, with new podcasts being released at least once a month.

PM for the Masses. Cesar Abeid brings a lot of guests to his popular podcast. Topics cover everything from public speaking to methodology to careers.

The Tim Ferriss Show. Hosted by Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week, this podcast was the first business/interview podcast to pass 100,000,000 downloads. He brings on well-known personalities to dissect what tools, techniques, and tactics they used to get where they are.

Back to Work. In this award-winning podcast, Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin discuss productivity, constraints, tools, and communication. Mann and Benjamin offer a nice balance of clever banter and teaching in every one-hour episode.

Massive Open Online Courses

MOOC'sMOOCs can get online the opportunity to take a class from institutions around the world.

edX – Was founded in 2012 and is governed by more than 90 global partners. EdX is the only leading MOOC provider that is both nonprofit and open source.

Project Risk Assessment – University of Michigan – In this course, you will learn how to conduct risk analysis of different projects using both conceptual and practical developments in modern finance. – Self Paced – Verified Certificate $99.00

Strategic Applications of IT Project & Program Management – University of Washington –  This course focuses on learning project management methodologies in the IT field, and why they are effective. This course introduces you to project management standards and frameworks that increase efficiency and deliver tangible business benefits to IT projects. – Self Paced – Verified Certificate $79.00

International Project Management – Rochester Institute of Technology – This course addresses the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required to successfully manage projects that span organizations, national boundaries, and cultural differences. – Starts on May 17, 2018 – Verified Certificate $150.00

Coursera – Agile Development Specialization – This course provides a beginner overview of the Agile methodology, specifically within software projects. You’ll learn to coördinate all aspects of the agile development process, including running design sprints, managing teams, and fostering a culture of experimentation. – Cost: $49 monthly Coursera subscription

Lynda.com – The online learning platform Lynda.com offers more than 90 courses related to project management. Many of these courses qualify for PDU’s through PMI. – Cost: Free for the first 30 days, then $19.99 per month – Start date: On-Demand

Project Management Websites

Project Management WebsitesProject Management Institute (PMI) – Everyone’s go-to project management resource is PMI. Their website is chock full of helpful information, including articles, white papers, online courses, and webinars

Microsoft Project Users group – MPUG is recognized as the official Industry Association for Microsoft® Project. MPUG delivers PMI PDU eligible online training, deep-dive certificate series sessions, hundreds of on-demand training videos helpful articles and resources, as well as a community forum for all your Microsoft Project Questions. $99.00 annual membership

A Girl’s Guide to Project Management – PM expert Elizabeth Harrin, writes about a variety of project management topics. Her strength is writing about careers, leadership, and teams within the PM space. She also provides free templates and toolkits to help PMs excel at their jobs.

Project Times – A well-curated site of helpful articles, webinars, white papers, and case studies about project management. Project Times isn’t afraid to post the offbeat (i.e., “Why Project Managers Shouldn’t Wear Man Buns”), which makes for a fun read.

Harvard Business Review – While HBR isn’t solely focused on PM, its focus on management, leadership, and careers is beneficial and applicable to any office dweller. They hide their content behind a paywall.

Herding Cats – Glen Alleman writes about a variety of topics related to Agile methodology and project management.

CIO – The project management section of the CIO website has some great content within the context of IT and tech PM. Articles cover everything from implementing an ERP system to managing project budgets.

What is your favorite source for PDU’s Let me know and I will add it to the list in the comments.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Project Management | Tags: , , , , ,
| August 24, 2017
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Guestimating for Project Managers

Guestimating for Project ManagersSince the dawn of time, one of the questions most likely to strike fear into the heart of even seasoned project managers is, “So how much is this project going to cost?” In fact, Bob Kreha at Brightwork says there are hieroglyphs on the wall of the tomb of the great pharaoh Khufu, depicting the pharaoh asking Vizier Hermiunu, the pyramid’s project manager, this very question about his burial pyramid and, a few walls down, a second depiction of the project manager being thrown into a nest of crocodiles in the Nile after the project overran its budget by a few thousand debens.

As evidence of how little project management progressed, Mr. Kreha relates how he sat in a questioning-techniques-in-training estimation meeting and watched an “agile” project team assign “points” to “stories” in a vain attempt to estimate how much work they might get done in the next two weeks, aka the next sprint. And inevitably, a new team member would ask at some point, “so how many hours are there in a point?” Immediately, this agile novice is mocked mercilessly! “You don’t understand,” the scrum master and other developers say, “points aren’t convertible into hours or dollars. We use a Fibonacci sequence – you know, 1,2,3, 5, 8, and 13 – to estimate how much effort a story is. It has nothing to do with hours or money.”

And so we project managers are still left holding the bag for estimating projects, often early in a project’s lifecycle, and then being held accountable for them as if we were clairvoyant. What can be done?

Brightwork’s Kreha offers some hints on how to stay out of the croc pond. Start doing them, that might help:

Separate hard costs from soft costs

Separate ‘hard costs’ from soft costsWhen you’re estimating. Hard costs are things like license fees. Once you have a quote from a vendor (stall until you have one) you can be pretty confident that’s what the cost will be. Hourly labor, and time and material contracts in general, are obviously softer since you’re funding time and not deliverables per se.

For softer costs, use ‘burn rates’ to look at low, likely, and high ranges for labor costs. For example, if you have a team of 10 with an average bill rate of $100/hour and they will be working on your project more or less full time for the next 5-6 months, you’re looking at $860k to $1M if I did the math right. Don’t get suckered into estimating hours without thinking about time, because things ALMOST ALWAYS take longer than you planned.

Use ranges wherever possible

use ‘burn rates’Early in a project, it at least helps to subliminally communicate to stakeholders that the project costs are still a bit squishy. I am sure we’ve all seen estimates that have line items down to the dollar. Like $365,750.00. That’s a terrible thing to do – it implies a precision that just isn’t there.

Don’t EVER leave out contingency! At the project outset, make sure it’s 25% of the total project estimate. And try your best NOT to tell anyone it’s there. That’s YOUR insurance policy to keep you out of the croc pond

Get estimates from multiple sources if possible. Have a technical team do an estimate. Have a trusted project manager do one. And maybe even ask the stakeholders what they think the project should If the numbers you get back are wildly variant, you have a lot of work to do to rationalize them down to something plausible.

BiddersRelentlessly track your actual costs as you incur them! And more importantly, once you see them drifting away from the estimate or any underlying assumptions you made, TELL someone right away. Delivering financial bad news is one thing; delivering financial bad news 75% through a project is PM malpractice.

Figure out who, if anyone, is likely to be joining you in the croc pool. Trust their numbers more than someone who will skate out the side door faster than Usain Bolt if the project costs start going sideways.

rb-

We have all been there, in the croc pond, under the bus, or in front of the train. Someone didn’t complete their task on time or misunderstood a requirement or just screwed up. These suggestions can help insulate you from some of the inevitable problems that are part of being a project manager.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Project Management | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
| May 26, 2017
Comments Off on Demand for Project Managers Dropping

Demand for Project Managers Dropping

Demand for Project Managers DroppingThe role of IT project managers is critical, as new technology adoption, regulatory compliance, outsourcing, and other factors make it vital that projects be properly planned and controlled.

project managers as a percentage of the IT staff dropped

Computer Economics says that too few organizations adequately staff the project manager function and, as a result, too many projects fall short of objectives, miss deadlines, or overrun budgets. In their report, IT Project Management Staffing Ratios (Reg. Req.), the research firm found that project managers as a percentage of the IT staff dropped slightly at the median from 4.8% in 2015 to 4.5% in 2016.

project managers as a percentage of the IT staff
The Irvine, CA-based firm speculates that there are a variety of reasons for the recent decline in the percentage of project managers. They found that like other IT functions, the staffing ratio for project managers is in flux. The percentages of staff in certain other IT job categories are growing, with a higher percentage going to application development, business analytics, and security. This, by definition, pushes down the percentage in project management.

project managers handle more projectsOther reasons Computer Economics cites include the improvement in project management tools, which might allow project managers to handle more projects. It also appears a small number of companies might be abandoning the dedicated role of project manager, combining it with the role of lead developer, for example. The study also blames the growing popularity of agile development, with its focus on, also may be contributing to the decline in project management as a discrete function. However, this decline has only been recent and may not yet reflect a trend. Tom Dunlap, research director for Computer Economics said,

Despite the slight drop in the percentage of PMs, I’d be surprised if that turned into a long-term trend. With the rapidly changing nature of technology in the enterprise and the generally bad track record of IT departments getting projects in on time and on budget, I expect the percentage of PMs to go up.

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Compare this data to that PMI reported in their Project Management Job Growth and Talent Gap 2017–2027 (PDF) report where they are making the case for a growing job market for PMs. The report claims that through 2027, the global project management-oriented labor force in seven project-oriented sectors is expected to grow by 33 percent, or nearly 22 million new jobs.

Related articles

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

Category: Project Management | Tags: , , , , , ,
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