Friday, January 21, 2011

Me and Google no. 5

The following article was done just after the Hong Kong Sevens in March/April 2003. The Namibian Rugby Sevens Team took part in the Hong Kong Sevens when the SARS virus was classified as a serious concern across the globe. On our return we were to be quarantined for a two week period. We had been very careful while in Hong Kong and carried our mask all the time in public, except for when we were at the games off course. We were not quarantined, and none of the team members were affected by SARS. The article focuses on the hype on SARS at that point in time.

The article can be translated from Afrikaans to English for readers whom do not follow English.

SARS fyn gemonitor

DIE nasionale sewerugbyspan wat gister van 'n internasionale toernooi uit Hong Kong na Namibië teruggekeer het, is almal vir die simptome van Akute Asemhalingsindroom (SARS), die dodelike vorm van longontsteking wat veral Asië die afgelope weke teister, getoets.
Daar is geen rede tot paniek nie, het dr. Libertine Amathila, die Minister van Gesondheid en Welsyn, gister in die Nasionale Vergadering gesê.
"My Ministerie beheer en monitor die situasie uiters versigtig. Ons is in noue kontak met die Wêreld Gesondheidsorganisasie (WHO) en ontvang daagliks nuus oor die situasie wêreldwyd,"het sy gesê.
Intussen het mnr. Hylton Ferreira, 'n bestuurslid van die Namibiese sewerugbyspan, gister uit Johannesburg aan Republikein bevestig dat die span getoets is en dat almal gesond is.
Mnr. Ferreira het gesê die span het soveel as moontlik tydens hul besoek maskers as voorkoming gedra. As veiligheidsmaatreël het dié span ook hul deelname aan 'n IRR-sewetoernooi in Beijing gekansaleer.

Me and Google no. 4

This article was posted in a Namibian Daily Newspaper in 2003, during the Rugby World Cup in Australia. I was the Spokesperson for the Namibian Rugby Team. The interview was a prelude to the Namibia vs Argentina game. One of the main attractions to the sporting world was if, Rudi van Vuuren was going to play a game. It would be the first time in history that a person would take part in the cricket and rugby world cup. The article can be translated from Afrikaans to English for any interested readers whom do not follow Afrikaans:

Rudie is uit Argentinië-stryd - Nambië glo hy kan vandag eerste skok van Wêreldbeker 2003 lewer

"Ons verwag dat dit baie winderig en koud sal wees en dat dit moontlik ook kan reën," het mnr. Ferreira gesê. "As ons die loot wen, kan ons verkies om die tweede helfte saam met die wind te speel om met skoppe in hulle helfte te bly. Ons kan hulle ook met taktiese skoppe laat omdraai."
"Die gevoel in die kamp is dat ons Argentinië kan klop. Dave (Waterston) is van die opinie dat Argentinië niks van ons af weet nie, iets wat in ons guns tel en dat ons 'n kans het om 'n skok te lewer. Hulle sal nie verwag dat ons hulle voorlangs sal aanvat omdat hulle tradisioneel sterk voorspelers het. Ons glo dat ons voorspelers hulle in toom kan hou wat die agterlyn kans kan gee om te hardloop.
"Die senuwees is besig om te pla. Almal is besig om te fokus. Daar is beslis 'n geloof dat ons Argentinië kan klop," het mnr. Ferreira gesê.
"Ons gaan die kapteinsoefening hier in Salamander Bay hou, op die Tomaree-veld waar ons die afgelope tyd oefen. Die skoppers sal wel vandag (gister) kans kry om daar te gaan skop."
Die wedstryd word hanteer deur die Walliese skeidsregter Nigel Williams. Die grensregters is Paul Honiss van Nieu-Seeland en Joël Dume van Frankryk.

Full article: http://www.republikein.com.na/sport

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Me and Google no. 4

I did this interview with ABC News in Australia at the 2003 Rugby World Cup regarding Rudi van Vuuren, who was going to become the first person to play in a rugby and cricket world cup. Rudi currently a medical doctor and a dedicated nature conservationist in Namibia.

Rudi's chance for World Cups double

Cricketer-cum-rugby player Rudi van Vuuren would be forgiven for wishing his team-mates the very worst of luck as Namibia made six changes for their final World Cup match against Romania on Thursday.

The 31-year-old fly-half, included on the bench, will become the first man to play in the cricket and rugby World Cups if an injury or substitution allows him to take the field against the Romanians in Launceston.
Van Vuuren, seeking a 14th cap and still not fully match fit, was selected for Namibia's opening game of the tournament against Argentina only to be forced to withdraw with a left calf injury.
A medium-pacer, he played in the cricket World Cup earlier in the year.
Namibia were crushed by a record Cup margin of 142-0 by Australia in Pool A last week
Coincidentally, they also lost to Australia in the cricket tournament by a record runs margin.
Scrum-half Hakkies Husselman, captain against Australia, and left wing Jurie Booysen have been replaced by winger Vince Dreyer and 23-year-old scrum-half Neil Swanepoel.
Number eight Sean Furter returns as captain in one of four changes to the pack.
"The main aim was to keep the best squad for the last match. It's make or break for us," Namibia team spokesman Hylton Ferreira said.
Namibia and Romania have yet to win a game in the tournament.

Article available at: http://abcaustralia.net/news

Me and Google no. 3

This interview was done in September of 2001 with the Namibian Economist:


Premier must distribute electricity

This is the first year that Premier Electric will join the Windhoek Show as an exhibitor. The company was established on 23 August 1999 by a cabinet resolution but has only become operational recently said its manager of commercial services, Mr Hylton Ferreira.
He explained that the company is a 100% subsidiary of NamPower founded with the objective of establishing distribution networks in Namibian towns, villages and communities. It is also charged with establishing and promoting the use of solar energy, especially in areas where grid electrification is not feasible due to excessively high costs. The company also supplies technical expertise for services and maintenance as well as operations of local electricity distributors, according to Mr Ferreira. He said that one of the most important functions of the company is to negotiate agreements with local authorities to operate and maintain distribution network systems within the jurisdictions of those authorities.

 When asked what the company’s relationship to Northern Electricity is, Mr Ferreira said that Premier is not against any Regional Electricity Distributor (RED). He pointed out that the company was established to assist government with the creation of REDs, adding that the direction given by government is aimed at creating a better business environment, ‘Therefore we will adapt our business to support these government objectives,” he added.
In Otavi, the smart partnership between Premier Electric and Otavi Electrical Company has already produced upgrades on existing networks, new connections and an improved billing system, said Ferreira.
Ferreira added that the company offers local authorities several smart partnership options like joint ventures as well as operation and management agreements. He pointed out that all options can be tailor-made and customised in terms of the customer’s needs and wants.
In explaining why Premier Electric is the way to go in terms of smart partnership, Ferreira said that it is a fully owned Namibian company. He said that government established the company and that its core business is electricity distribution. According to Ferreira, Premier Electric understands the Namibian situation, has countrywide representation and is a socially responsible corporate citizen.

Read full article at: http://www.economist.com.na

Me and Google no. 2

This is article reflects on an interview I had, in August 2001, with the Namibian Economist newspaper on partnership to in the Energy environment:

Premier Electric for smart partnerships

Premier Electric was established on 23 August 1999 by a cabinet resolution said its manager of commercial services, Mr Hylton Ferreira.
He explained that the company is a 100% subsidiary of NamPower founded with the objective of establishing distribution networks in Namibian towns, villages and communities. It is also charged with establishing and promoting the use of solar energy, especially in areas were grid electrification is not feasible due to excessively high costs. The company also supplies technical expertise for services and maintenance as well as operations of local electricity distributors, according to Mr Ferreira. He said that one of the most important functions of the company is to negotiate agreements with local authorities to operate and maintain distribution network systems within the jurisdictions of those authorities.



 Smart partnerships with all the local authorities have been called for by the government in order to establish self-sufficient and self sustaining electricity distributors all over Namibia, said Ferreira.
He pointed out that Premier Electric has already started fulfilling this mandate, highlighting examples like Oshakati Premier Electric and Otavi Electrical Company. In Oshakati this has lead to the provision of streetlights along a 5,5km stretch of the main road as well as the establishment of streetlights at three of the town’s major intersections. He also drew particular attention to the Oshakati Electrification Master Plan, which was launched on 16 August and is aimed at optimisation of the current network. When asked what the company’s relationship to Northern Electricity is, Mr Ferreira said that Premier is not against any Regional Electricity Distributor (RED). He pointed out that the company was established to assist government with the creation of REDs, adding that the direction given by government is aimed at creating a better business environment, ‘Therefore we will adapt our business to support these government objectives,” he added.


Read article: http://www.economist.com.na

Me and Google no. 1

I got this crazy to Google myself and see what information  about me is on the internet. Apart from the facebook, twitter and linkedin posts and responses, I found some pretty interesting articles. Some of these occurred many years ago, and I had forgotten about them. Reading them brought back some fond memories.


The following article is the first which I will be posting under "Me and Google" :

Electrification of Maize Triangle – Way ahead of schedule

The third and final phase of the electrification of the Maize Triangle is expected to be completed in May this year – a year ahead of the scheduled time.
The construction of phase two and three is running concurrently and hence the reason why phase three will be completed earlier than planned. Both phases are being constructed to the tune of N$39 million. The total line length for phase two and three is approximately 1100 km.
NamPower started the three-phase project in 2002, with the aim to electrify farmlands in the Tsumeb, Grootfontein and Otavi area and to encourage economic activity in that area, especially in the field of horticulture.
One determining factor was that the agricultural belt supply 20-thousand tonnes of raw cotton required by the textile factory, Ramatex, established in 2002 on the outskirts of Windhoek near Otjomuise. The growing of cotton is a labour intensive industry dependent on reliable and affordable supply of electricity to meet the annual quota of cotton. The Maize Triangle is also known for its ample underground sources of water and fertile soil.

Another major reason for this project is the construction of a 33 kV backbone network in areas where electricity is not available, as Hylton Ferreira the Manager of Electrification explains.
“Those farms which did not benefit from the subsidised project can benefit in future on commercial terms. What is important though is that they are now closer to the national electricity grid. Many farms are now situated 5 to 10 kilometres from electricity.”

Many, if not all farmers in the Maize Triangle were happy at the prospect of having electricity at their farms. But, as the project progressed, the happiness faded for some farmers when they realised that they will not benefit directly from the subsidised project.
“We had extremely happy and extremely unhappy farmers,” says Hylton.

“Some however, accepted that NamPower’s goal was to build strategic backbone networks to benefit their respective areas, if not them directly.”
The second phase of the electrification of the Maize Triangle covered 108 farms north of Tsumeb and Grootfontein up to Oshivelo and Morurani in the Oshikoto region. Phase three covers a vast area of at least 320 farms, of which 90 farms will benefit from the subsidised scheme. This phase covers an extremely large area made up of farms south of Grootfontein, south and west of Otavi, and north of Otjiwarongo and Waterberg.

Hylton has nothing but praise for the project. “All in all, I feel that this was money well spent in terms of developing the region and uplifting the socio-economic standard of people in these areas. Another good thing is that all farmers who benefited have to provide their employees with electricity, which in turn will also improve their living standard.”
The project covered established commercial farmers as well as upcoming commercial farmers. In total, the NamPower Board of Directors approved an amount of N$55 million dollars for the electrification of the Maize Triangle and surrounding areas.

Phase 3 farmers Ecstatic
Farmers benefiting from the third phase of the project are ecstatic that the project will be completed a year in advance. Some of them shared their excitement with Watts On:




The Maize Triangle Electrification project was one of most rewarding that I have managed.

Read comments from ecstatic customers at: http://www.nampower.com.na/pages/jan_2005_1.asp 

Monday, January 17, 2011

The PMP Exam Brain Dump

There’s no better catalyst for self realization than taking the Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam. I’m kidding you, of course, but there is some truth in that the PMP exam day will illuminate that “you don’t know what you don’t know.”
The PMP Exam is a ‘closed’ book exam. That means the only reference material you are allowed to carry into the testing facility has to be contained in your brain. But during your exam, your brain is going to be very busy interpreting the exam questions and trying to apply all of the knowledge, skills and principles you’ve accumulated in your studies and work experience.
If you haven’t already, you should go for a visit to the local testing facility where you’ll take your exam and confirm what to expect. Most likely, on your exam day, the exam monitor will check you into the testing facility, hand you six or so sheets of scratch paper and two pencils, then show you to your seat and confirm that your PC is working. Then you’ll have about 15 minutes to go through a tutorial that really only takes about 5 minutes to do. Then you begin your exam.
During the test, recalling what you do know can be daunting. Quite frankly, some of your ability to access that knowledge is going to seem misplaced amongst your grey cells. So how do you create the best opportunities to pass the PMP Exam that day? You can use the 10 minutes you don’t need from the tutorial time to do a Brain Dump!
What goes into a Brain Dump?
Brain Dumps are only as good as the quality and quantity of information that you can spill out on the piece(s) of paper just before you begin your PMP Exam. They contain the formulas, theory, concepts and PMP-isms that you might otherwise forget for a moment at the very moment when you need it most.
Here is what you can generally find as part of a PMP Exam Brain Dump:
  • Table 3-1 of the PMBOK® Guide 4th Edition
  • Formulas, such as earned value, PERT, communication channels, procurement, probability, project selection and depreciation
  • Values, such as 1, 2 and 3 sigma and estimate ranges
  • Acronyms, such as BAC or TCPI
  • Powers of a project manager
  • Conflict resolution (best to worst)
  • Sources of conflict (order of priority)
  • Herzberg’s motivators
  • Project closing check list
And of course: you must include all the items that you personally have trouble remembering during your studies and that you feel need to go onto your sheet. The list above or using a Brain Dump that someone else created can be a good start but you really need to customize it to your needs. Don’t study what others are having trouble remembering. Instead, include what gives you the hiccups.

Article by Cornelius Fichtner, PMP :
The PMP Exam Brain Dump - PM Hut

Peer Assist in Project Management: Learning Before Doing

Faced with challenging projects, teams call on colleagues with relevant experience.

Knowledge workers in NASA work on the edge, carrying out complex projects that have never before been attempted. It shouldn’t be a surprise to discover that teams working on these projects cannot possibly know everything they need to know to perform to the highest standards. In many cases, they haven’t had the opportunity to learn from previous experience, or they haven’t had ready access to those who have “done it before.”

It’s not always easy to admit we don’t know everything, but once we do and ask for help, the process of gaining new knowledge has already begun. It takes time and effort, though, to get the right knowledge to flow and transfer when and where it’s needed. Fortunately, there is a proven knowledge management technique that can help. Called a peer assist, it accelerates the transfer of knowledge from those who have it to those who need it in many organizations.

Great article by Kent A. Greenes:
Peer Assist in Project Management: Learning Before Doing - PM Hut

The difference between Auditing and Diagnosing a Project

An Audit checks compliance to some standard or expectation. A report or plan is reviewed to see if it complies with the expected standard, if completed correctly, fully and is appropriately signed off.

A Diagnostic is a diagnosis of the root causes of the state of a project and an analysis of its likelihood of success.

An Audit assumes that the process, if correctly followed, will lead to the desired result. The focus is on ‘correctly followed’.

A Diagnostic diagnoses the current status of the project, how it has reached this point, and identifies the resultant and residual risks to the successful completion of the project.

An Audit will make comments in relation to the quality or otherwise of the document. The Diagnostic will only focus on whether the use of the document adds value and reduces risk on the project.

The results are quite different.


Article by Jed Simms for PM Hut:
The difference between Auditing and Diagnosing a Project - PM Hut

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Instill Acknowledgment Into the Corporate Culture


Normally, I encourage and promote the use of heartfelt and spontaneous acknowledgments. Now I want to talk about the possibility of instituting and practicing a more formal process of recognition simultaneously.

I recently held a webinar with about 60 project managers from Finland. I had been told before the webinar that they didn't believe acknowledgement even existed in their culture. Shortly after this webinar, though, I received an enthusiastic e-mail from Dean Pattrick, PMP, telling me about an internal program introduced at Nokia in Finland. It's called the Peer-to-Peer Recognition Award.

Below is a copy of the certificate he and the company's human resources department put together to recognize achievement in one of the company's four core values, Achieving Together.

Nokia.jpg"So I filled in this certificate for eight people and the response I got from each of them was jaw-dropping," Mr. Pattrick wrote.

Remember, acknowledgment supposedly doesn't even exist in Mr. Pattrick's culture. Yet people were thrilled and delighted with the recognition certificates and the heartfelt comments.

He achieved these results because acknowledgment is a human need, especially at work.

Many companies are starting to institute formal practices like Nokia's and I wholeheartedly applaud them. I also acknowledge Mr. Pattrick for putting this practice into action.

Who's really the Project Lead?

So should we eliminate the project management position and have the creative leads or account managers take on those responsibilities? Well, no.

Companies that attempt to eliminate the project management position from their ranks are ultimately just pushing this responsibility to other members of the existing team. Those members may believe they are able to take on the role of project manager, but more likely are too busy with their current responsibilities. Not to mention, they are nowhere near as knowledgeable or skilled in project management as they would like to believe.

The challenge lies in the perception of what it takes to manage and lead a project team from start to finish. If you were to ask your creative team or your account team, I'm willing to bet their description of leading teams would be inadequate. And much of the job they describe will be tasks they simply don't have an interest in performing.

So what do we do in these situations?

To me, the answer lies in accountability. If creative or account teams are going to claim leadership positions on projects, they need to be clearly identified by senior management as owning of the final, holistic project outcome. These project leaders must understand that their success -- and the project's success -- is tied directly to their ability to make all of the parts come together, even when many of the parts don't fall squarely in their functional purview.

Article by Geoff Mattie for PMvoices:
Who's really the Project Lead?

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Estimating project cost

Bruce McGraw writes that establishing a project budget can be as simple as calculating what it will cost to perform each task in the work breakdown structure and adding them to get a total budget. However, as any project manager who has created a project budget knows, creating a project budget is rarely simple or straightforward (and usually not totally in your control!).
The complicating factors include clients who want as much functionality as possible for the lowest cost, business development and sales staff who wants to win contracts, and senior managers who want to maximize profits. In addition, everyone wants the product to work well and be easy to use. The person in the middle of this vested-interest conflict is the project manager.
And for those certified PMPs, there is a whole section in the PMBOK® that talks about this topic. Planning in chapter 3 talks about estimating costs and then budget as a part of the planning process and then chapter 7 “Project Cost Management” discusses the techniques and best practices for preparing budgets and managing the costs.
Just because creating an acceptable project budget is not simple does not mean you will not have to do it. So, how can a project manager protect the hoped for success of the project and manage risks by not agreeing to do more than can be done?
Checking out PMBOK, Chapter 7, they suggest beginning with project scope, which may require the addition of design detail to create defendable cost numbers. You also need the project schedule and information on staff availability. Once you know what needs to be done, how quickly and by whom, cost estimating can begin.
PMBOK lists several cost estimating methods that may be done alone or in complementary fashion.
  • Expert judgment – your experience on similar tasks and projects, input from consultants
  • Analogous estimating – other similar organization projects cost history data
  • Parametric estimating – Parametric Cost Estimating Handbook from NASA offers guidance, though somewhat dated.
  • Bottom up
  • Three point estimating – most likely, optimistic, pessimistic
  • Reserve analysis – with a contingency fund to cover uncertainty in estimates
  • Cost of quality – add in
My advice to you is “back up your estimates with data”. Be prepared to justify costs and explain risks – in non-technical terms — of making too optimistic assumptions. Try to achieve reduction in scope commensurate with lowered budgets. Do not feel too badly if you lose some of the cost estimating battles. The real key is to document your assumptions (like there are 7 modules to design, or we will perform 2 week long tests).
What has been your experience with cost estimating software projects in the real world? Do you pad your estimates knowing you may have to settle for less? Or do you just add some contingency to duration and costs?

Project Management's Dirty Little Secret

Most of the project management methodologies utilized today in traditional project management practice evolved from creating and managing the processes used in developing the assembly lines of the early industrial revolution. The next big push in project management thought, in my opinion, came with NASA and the race into space. The list of benefits from the space race is long and varied, Tang and titanium being two of them. You might even be able to include project management software on that list, although I believe it is more likely directly attributable to independent aerospace contractors than NASA (although sometimes I get carried away and could be writing revisionist history here).
That being said, you might be interested to know that next to accounting software, project management software is the oldest software product. It’s been around, in a very similar form to what it is now, for a very long time. What’s more, although project management software has improved and accommodated things like resource management, stage gates, portfolio management and other needed tools for project managers, it isn’t all a bed of roses for organizations doing project-based work.
The dirty little secret of project management is that after all these years of software development, the tools have become so complicated that end users don’t use them. If you’re like me, there were times when I had to spend (waste) time reminding, cajoling, even begging my team members to update their status information in the project management tools we were using at the time. Or worse, I had to guess as to what real project status was.
Project management software has come a long way, but the way the end users interact with the process has largely been ignored. Why? Because they are not a real buying influence and their needs are considered unimportant to those who do influence purchasing decisions. This is a mistake in my opinion.
Capturing information at the source (the end user) is the best way to collect accurate and timely information for informing project decisions. When team members have an easy, and dare I suggest intuitive, way to contribute project data; project managers, line of business managers, and other business leaders will have the timely information they need to make decisions that could increase competitiveness and profitability (which is what CEOs want to see their projects do).
Team members shouldn’t have to be project management experts to update their status.
As project leaders, it’s our job to find the solutions that will make the process simple for the members of our teams so that we have visibility into projects, can identify and eliminate bottlenecks and encourage collaboration. Once we expose the dirty little secret for what it is, we will start to see project management software vendors make tools that will make it easy for end users to engage in the process and facilitate work management for businesses of all types.

Author: Ty Kiisel

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Power Without Authority

This is a very good article to source buy-in into a project from project team members, if you are a boss or not. Inclusion is a powerful tool that universally renders buy-in from members.

Read
Power Without Authority - Voices on Project Management

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Project Managers: Turn Your New Year’s Resolutions into a Project

Willpower, lack of focus, not really your resolution but one that someone else thought would be good for you, not knowing how to go about achieving the resolution. These are all things that have kept me from being as successful as I would have liked to have been in the past. So what can we do to be successful in achieving our New Year’s Resolution? Last year I decided to attack my resolutions a little differently. I decided to turn them into a Project and to use Project Management and Goal Setting techniques to successfully achieve my Resolutions. After all, I am a Project Manager. The process you should go through is as follows:

Project Managers: Turn Your New Year’s Resolutions into a Project - PM Hut

Basic Earned Value Management (EVM) - PM Hut

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a method of reporting project status in terms of time and money. It gets us away from best effort or ‘guesstimates’ and provides a way to give solid information to your stakeholders. The below example is not mine and for the life of me, I can not find where I got it from…very sorry. However, I think it is a very easy, basic way to explain this to you.

Basic Earned Value Management (EVM) - PM Hut

Five Steps to Ensure Consistency in the Management of Projects

Managing projects is not cast and stone. Things may be going pretty well in managing our current projects. It may be worthwhile to look at the following article to find possible ways to do things better.

Michael Stanleigh writes for PM Hut that getting consistent results with project delivery requires the consistent use of project management methods and tools by every project team in the organization. Establishing consistency requires proper planning and effort by senior management and/or PMOs.
Many organizations struggle with project management because not everyone assigned to projects is competent or they may not be using proper processes, tools or templates to manage projects. This creates a high failure rate for projects and wasted organizational spending.
In our most recent project management research study, we found that the organizations that spent the time and effort to develop effective project management frameworks have been able to realize increased productivity, market share and shareholder value.

Read full article at:
Five Steps to Ensure Consistency in the Management of Projects - PM Hut

What’s in Your Management Planning Meeting?

Did you meet all your expected business outcomes in 2010? Were you “promise keepers” that made “raving fans” of your clients other stakeholders? If not, perhaps one agenda item for 01/03/2011 should be a review of your management planning meetings. How are they conducted? What is the agenda? What are the desired outcomes? Are these status and “look back” meetings? Or forward looking planning meetings?

Your effective use of meeting time will build enthusiasm and commitment — two of the essential ingredients of building a high performing team. The well planned and facilitated meeting promotes better follow up and follow through, and set the stage for the meeting results needed to improve execution and ability to meet the planned outcomes. Well planned and implemented meetings will yield achievable and predictable results going forward. Isn’t this, after all, what you really set out to accomplish?

Ray W. Frohnhoefer's for PM Hut full article:
What’s in Your Management Planning Meeting? - PM H

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Project Management Office Productivity - Make or Buy?

Some things to consider before you begin: Why are you asking the question, make or buy?

  • What is the scope of the problem/opportunity being addressed? Do you need a complete system redesign or would some limited or specific improvements achieve most of the gains you’re seeking.
  • What constraints (cost, duration, strategic alignment, …) will be applied to any given solution you identify?
  • How detailed and specific are existing management methods (steps, forms, templates, reports, …)? As methods evolve, the need for customized tools increases.
  • How flexible can you be with respect to existing methods and where?
  • Do you have a well formed evolution plan for the organizations that will utilize or be impacted by the solution you implement?
  • What ancillary methods/systems will your solution be required to support and how?
  • What off the shelf tools are available in the market?
  • What resources and technologies can you draw upon to develop (and maintain) custom solutions?


Project Management Office Productivity - Make or Buy? - PM Hut