designing project outcomes - great project management is about everyone else

DESIGNING PROJECT OUTCOMES

Great Project Management Is About Everyone Else

PMI Northwest Regional RoundtableMay 18th , 2016

T. Hudson MillerPrincipal, The Management Reserve, LLC

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A Brief Introduction• Who? Me?

• The Management Reserve, LLC• Judicious use of project/program management techniques• Insightful application of lessons learned• Doing it right the first time• Focus on solving the problem not the symptom

May 18, 2016 © 2016 The Management Reserve, LLC

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Why are you here?• To hear about designing better project outcomes• Why are you really here?• Networking• PDU’s• Learn something new• Get out of the office• Socialize• Looking for a job


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What’s our Job? • Initiate, Plan, Execute, Control, Close?• Personnel Management?• Systems Engineering?• Financial Delivery?

• >>Communication• “When it comes to project management, communication

takes up 90% of a project manager's time. – Joseph Phillips “


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Then why is there so much stuff?


Agile

Scrum

Spiral

Lean

Six Sigma

PMP

PMBOK

Waterfall

Kanban

Backlog

Project Plan

SOW

WBS

Project Charter

Preliminary Scope Statement

Configuration Management PlanScope Baseline

Schedule Baseline

Risk RegisterIssues Lists

Staffing Plan

Schedule Management Plan

Contract

Organizational Process Library

ECP

RFIs

Activity List

Milestone List

Cost Management Plan

Cost Baseline

Quality Management Plan

User Stories

Use Cases

Assumptions

Constraints

Communications Management Plan

Make or BuyEarned Value

Velocity

Sprint

Quality Metrics

Evaluation Criteria

Corrective Action ReportsProposals

Forecasts

Test Reports

Re-baselining

Techniques, Documents, Artifacts, Plans, …Do any ensure Project Success?

No

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Success is determined by others• Your Boss• His Boss• Your Peers• Your Support Staff• Your Customers• Their Customers

• Pretty much everyone you (and your project) comes in contact with


Usually^

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Project Management…• Make a list – get it done• Too Simple? OK, how about

• Cost• Schedule• Scope• Performance (i.e.. Scope and Quality)


Cost

Performance

Schedule

1 "The triad constraints" by I, John Manuel Kennedy T.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_triad_constraints.jpg#/media/File:The_triad_constraints.jpg

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Getting Back to Our Stakeholders…• Different Stakeholders = Different Perspectives


SC

P

Leadership

C S

P

Project Team

C S

P

Customers

C S

P

Vendor Firms

CS

P

Vendor Staff

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Who’s involved in your project success?• Leadership• Contracting• Finance• Legal• End Users• Vendor and Vendor PM• Vendor Subcontractors and Trades• Engineering• Inspectors and Design Review Boards• Consultants


Which one is Your

customer?

They All Are

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#RealityCheck• Question

• Have you ever had bad news reach someone before you had a chance to tell them yourself?

• Question• Have you ever had your superior confront you about something

you did (or didn’t do) with a complaint outside your department?

• Reality• Technology (email, texting, tweets, snapchat etc.) enables word to

pass faster than we can react.• = RUMINT (Rumor based Intel)


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Designing Project Outcomes• Doing our “job” isn’t enough any more• Overcome with Organizational Processes• Seek the consistency of “routine”

• Because people effect our outcome• We must manage our job requirements• AND Stakeholder Communication

• Designing Project Outcomes = • Getting the Job Done AND• Putting our stakeholders in a position to brag about it


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It’s all about the people• People define success• Stakeholder perception defines your project success

• ROI• Financial Improvements• Reduced Risk• Increased Performance/Effectiveness• Schedule and cost variance• Beauty

• So if people define our success, how do we incorporate that into our project?


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What do you need from them?


Stakeholders PM Needs to GetLeadership Mandate, EmpowermentContracting Vendors, Org. PolicyFinance Money, Accounting

Legal Constraints, Protection, Policy

Customers Requirements, Buy-in

Vendor & Vendor PM Action, Acumen, Execution

Vendor Subs & Trades Reassurance, Insight

Engineering Requirements, Solution Design

Inspectors and Review Boards Ancillary Requirements

Consultants Advice, support, insight

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What do they need from you?


• PM Needs to GiveStakeholders PM Needs to GiveLeadership Reassurance, Insight, StatusContracting Requirements, Feedback, StatusFinance Forecasts, Status

Legal Compliance

Customers Status, Instructions, Training

Vendor & Vendor PM Feedback, work approval, support

Vendor Subs & Trades Feedback, Presence

Engineering Feedback, as-built’s, test data

Inspectors/Review Boards Test/Acceptance Documentation

Consultants Direction, Needs, Requests

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What do they really need from you?


Stakeholders PM Needs to GiveLeadershipContractingFinance

Legal

Customers

Vendor & Vendor PM

Vendor Subs & Trades

Engineering

Other Organizations

Consultants

Ask/Find Out

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Time to visit the toolbox• Once you understand what your stakeholders need to

make sure they are successful• Pick only essential tools and elaborate as necessary• Favor interaction over documentation• Favor demonstration over specification

• Modeling, mockups, and “photo collage's”


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Select tools that work for your situation


Rolling Wave Planning

Configuration Management Plan

Issues Lists

ContractAssumptions

Constraints

Communications Management Plan

Earned Value

Quality Metrics

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals

Forecasts

Test Reports

Re-baselining

IPT’s

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Test and assess how it’s working• How are they communicating to you?• How do they receive information?

• Does it work?

• Can you leverage it?


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Communication• Communication is the most effective tool within our control

• Who, what, when, how, and why we choose to communicate will be the most significant factor in project outcome

• Let communication needs prescribe the projects processes, documents, & artifacts

• Project Management (hence) Communication is a contact sport


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Often Missed Communication Opportunities

• Inspector/Review Board involvement in planning• Vendor involvement in SOW and Contract Design• Review of proposed CER’s against past performance• Executive involvement in progress updates• Impact of referenced documents in solicitation• Understanding of assumptions and constraints• Weak requirements elicitation and analysis• Low contract agility, poor cash flow • Un-contextualized legalese


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Designing Outcome In Action

• T-AGOS 23• 9 years in construction• 3 shipyards• Stakeholders:

• NAVSEA, Mission Owner, MSC, USCG, Ships Company, Shipyard, Support Contractors

• Objective: Get a COI, complete the mission


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1 USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS-23), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USNS_Impeccable_(T-AGOS-23)&oldid=675089140 (last visited Sept. 15, 2015).

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USNS_Impeccable_(T-AGOS-23)&oldid=675089140

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The “real” Need’s


Desired Outcome ApproachSatisfy all stakeholders such that they can claim success

Interviewed to obtain must haves/must knows and agreed to communication format and schedule

Complete deficiencies to the point remaining issues could be addressed by ships company (get a COI)

Made a list of EVERYTHING – prioritized and disseminated. Collaborated with USCG on must remedy issues to obtain COI, focused trades on these items only

Maintain project inertia, complete on schedule

Chunked schedule into small portions to demonstrate progress. Doubled schedule and cost estimates.

Do not exceed emergency funding assignment

Fenced COI funding, assigned remaining budget to ships crew’s biggest issues

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The outcomes we’re shooting for


Stakeholders Positive Outcomes…Leadership Political Success – completion on time

and on/under budgetContracting Minimal Change orders, expeditious

resolutionFinance Accurate and Validated reports

Legal No litigation, mediation, or risk

Customers Functionality, Anxious Anticipation

Vendor & Vendor PM Profitability, Credibility

Vendor Subs & Trades Profitability, growth

Engineering Credibility, timeliness

Inspectors/Review Boards Conformance, Inclusion

Consultants Credibility, Referrals

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The Management Reserve, LLC• We help companies reduce cost and risk by coaching

teams to focus only on deploying approaches which enable project success

• Roles:• Teambuilding and Communication• Enabling More Useful Project Reviews• Troubleshooting Project Performance• Tailoring Process• Emergency Management Augmentation


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Thank You


Get A Fix

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Diagram


As IsTo Be

Node Ex. Meaning

Shape Department, Level, Role

Shape Size I/O

Shape Color Status/Health

Shape Outline Color Perception/Interface Health

Arrow Direction Communication Flow

Arrow Style Communication Type

Arrow Color Communication Effectiveness

designing project outcomes - great project management is about everyone else

Presentations & Public Speaking