Leading Indicators in Project Management

There are two areas where diligence is important on Projects – (1) Planning and (2) Execution. Let’s assume that planning is done as well as possible and we are now in the midst of running the project. What I often find is that projects turn yellow just before a deadline is due when the PM realizes they won’t hit the date. This is usually less than one week away which really doesn’t give the team much wiggle room to take action and correct the problem. That is why I am a big fan of leading indicators.

The one I think works best is what I call “schedule earned value” which gauges the progress of a project against its ability to meet the commitment. In the simplest definition earned value tracks how much work is performed (earned) against how much time or resources is used (burned) to determine trending. For example, if a project has burned 50% of the time (e.g. on day 20 of a 40 day activity) but only completed 33% of the work then it is fair to assume that work is behind schedule (instead of waiting until day 35 to determine that). You can also use cost as a gauge of burn rate but this is harder sometimes to track and may not be as evenly spread as schedule.

The best way to install this rigor is to set up interim milestones against the plan and track them closely. This way as we risk interim milestones we can still track our progress against the major goals. The key is to track at a granular enough level to be able to see trends before they become issues and set up actions to correct them.

Article by Randy Wills and Kerry Wills for PM Hut.

The 5 W's of Successfully Working in a Global Project

Due to the global nature of projects, nowadays it's quite common for project managers to have project teams that include members of different nationalities and cultures.

Rather than making positive or negative conclusions about a culture, project managers need to build awareness and understand that cultures exist relative to each other. The challenge is to determine the actions that will enable them to successfully manage projects and reconcile the relative differences.

Project managers should consider the five W's to successfully work collaboratively on a global project.

Who: Who is working on the project? Everyone. It is rare to find a stakeholder or team member working on a project that has little or no contact with people from a different culture of their own.

What: What skills do project managers need to develop that will make them credible in another culture's eyes?

A project manager may be fluent in one or more foreign languages, for example. While that will help him or her communicate with others, it will not give the project manager the understanding on how a culture understands deadlines or other aspects of business. Project managers must listen and observe while working in a global setting to learn these things.

Where: Where is there opportunity to learn? Project managers should interact with people of different cultures inside and outside of the business world to navigate through unfamiliar cultures. Next time an intercultural opportunity arises, seize the moment to observe, reflect and learn.

When: When is the best time to collaborate with a multicultural team? Select an activity where all or most of your team members participate, such as a project status meeting. Does every culture respect a set meeting time, for example? In some cultures, there are no written rules of time etiquette, and a single event can be interpreted in a multitude of ways.

Why: Why should you care about multicultural traditions? As a project manager, you will have to manage teams that are partially collocated and across time zones. You should be somewhat comfortable in foreign environments and cognizant of local customs to continue learning and effectively conduct projects.

Article by by Conrado Morlan for Voices on Project Management

Shifting Your Productivity Mindset

Have you ever lain awake trying to get to sleep, but you can’t turn your work brain off? Or you have a whole Saturday to get things done, but it’s as if your motivation walked out the door along with your attention span?

In order to accomplish something, you have to have the correct “brain” turned on. Whether it’s an at-home project or relaxing enough to avoid looking at your phone, you have to shift your mindset to accomplish these tasks. Phil Cooke, author of “One Big Thing: Discovering What You Were Born to Do,” shares with us some tips around driving productivity through shifting your mindset.

• At Work: Some days you know exactly what you need to work on, and other days you spin your wheels. Is that because your leadership is unclear, or because the team dynamic has confused priorities? “Teams are great for brainstorming, research, and execution, but at some point, a leader has to make a decision,” says Phil. You can demand actionable direction, and find out who really makes the final decisions. “In military terms, a team can decide how to take the hill, but a leader has to decide which hill to take.”
• At Home: It’s really easy to bring your work brain home with you. Getting dinner on the table is suddenly the same as pestering your team to deliver their weekly reports. Your kid setting the table is different from an employee sending you a time sheet. “Once you cross the door and walk into your house, it’s time to switch to what author Jim Collins calls ‘legislative leadership,’” says Phil. “Legislative leadership is still leader driven, but it’s softer, more open to opposing ideas, and works because of consensus, not command. From a productivity standpoint, home and family aren’t about to-do lists, they’re about relationships.”
• Personal Time: Some people like to be really productive with their personal time, volunteering in the community, writing books, knitting clothes, or taking classes. Others want personal time to be for relaxing. And some feel they have no personal time, constantly shuttling kids to activities or coaching the little league team. Either way, there’s another shift in mindset here required to accomplish any goal. You have to be purposeful in what you want to accomplish, and that also means getting the tools you need. “If you’re on the go, this is where mobile technology can make a significant difference, because adaptability doesn’t mean inability,” says Phil. Your phone can keep you connected or allow you to multitask. Or no phone at all can help you relax.

You can be productive, but to accomplish everything from work tasks to relaxing, you have to change your mindset. Doing so requires flexibility, something you demonstrate every day. This is incredibly important in today’s shifting world. “The folks at Change Anything tell us that 83% of employees have been passed over for a promotion because management felt they couldn’t make the necessary changes to move to the next level in their career,” said Phil. Change is good for you, so take these tips to start shifting your mindset.

Article by Emily Jasper for Forbes.com