how to manage projectsunravel ‘04 how to manage projects hooman katirai · unravel 2004 · toronto

How to manage projectsUnravel ‘04

HOW TO MANAGE PROJECTS

Hooman Katirai · Unravel 2004 · Toronto


What you are about to learn

•Project Management -Methodology• Evolved from

-Technology sector• Outperforms Traditional methodologies


Some settings it has been applied

Type Name Team Size

Non-profit: World Bank 8

Academia: MIT 17 Corporation: Zero-Knowledge 50

Campus Club: Univ. of Toronto 25

Katirai - How to manage projects - Unravel 2004


Case Study: World Bank (Before & After)

Before …

Project: Writing a report

Organization: 7 managers

Division of work: One section per manager

Project Methodology: The old way …

Result: Team frequently missed deadlines


Case Study: World Bank (After)

“ … the first time our team delivered on time”

“Managers felt so pressured that they began posting their schedules to public e-mail lists, as if to say:

`look, I really am overworked, so please don’t consider me lazy!’

Nonetheless they still delivered on time.”


Common Problems: I want to do it but….

• “Am I allowed to? Is it my job to do so?” Result: hesitation/paralysis due to role confusion

• “I don’t have the authority to make a decision” Result: meeting for every decision with everyone in room

wastes time


Common Problems: • “Somebody else will do it”

Sometimes several busy people will have joint responsibility.

They silently decide to let the deadline slide ..

No one calls a meeting

Result: Tasks doesn’t get done.


The Old Fashioned Way:Roles & Responsibility Matrix

Andy

Chris

Mike Vlad

Book Room

Create posters

Distribute Posters

Create Invitations

Distribute Invitations

Write Newspaper Article

Meet with Editor of Newspaper

Names on one

axis

Tasks on the other

axis


The Old Fashioned Way:What’s wrong with this picture?

Andy Chris Mike Vlad

Book Room

Create posters

Distribute Posters

Create Invitations

Distribute Invitations


Write Report

Meet with Newspaper Editors

Checkmarks not enough:

What is Andy’s Role? It does not

say….Better way: Instead of

using checkmarks

explicitly assign roles


The 3 Roles:

Single person ultimatelyresponsible for the deliverable.

completes some portion of the deliverable.

Has no deliverables but is expected to provide information & advice.

Manager

Partner

Consultant


The New Way:


Book Room M P

Create posters M C

Distribute Posters M P

Create Invitations M

Distribute Invitations M P

Write Newspaper Article M P

Decide on Newspapers to approach P P M

Meet with Editor of Newspaper M


Example of a real table

Clios Scenarios Storage Transport Terrorism EnergyProjectManagement

Jason [email protected] P CM:

Present’n

Delphine [email protected] P P P

Nurettin [email protected] C M

Timothee [email protected] P C

Jessica [email protected] C P C

Hooman [email protected] P M: Overall

Tony [email protected] P P

Betsy [email protected] C M M: Editing & Integration

Matthew [email protected] P P C

Kate [email protected] P M: Overall

Joshua [email protected] P M P

Alisa [email protected] M P

Ayanna [email protected] P P

Kelvin [email protected] P M

Satwiksai [email protected] M C C

Masahiro [email protected] P P

Ali [email protected]

Legend:M - Managers Ultimately responsible for the deliverable

P - Partners Responsible for some portion of the deliverable

C - Consultants No deliverable but expected to provide information and advice

Include legend when

distributing chart

Including e-mails or phone numbers enables people to easily contact each other.


More on the roles matrix

Make every task a deliverable

What is a deliverable?

A deliverable can be

(1) seen and (2) monitored by aproject manager.


An Example


Book Room M P

Create posters M C





Decide on Newspapers to approach P P M

Meet with Editors of Newspapers M

Is this a deliverable? Can a ‘decision’ be

seen or monitored?


Better Way..


Book Room M P

Create posters M C





Create Document outlining Newspapers to Approach P P M


Better: now it can be seen

and monitored


More on the task list


Book Room M P

Create posters M C





Create Newspapers to Approach Document P P M


Is this description specific enough to describe the

task?

Missing: What topic is the

article about? How long should

it be? Etc..


Task Descriptions

• Accompany matrix with:– document describing each

task.

• Task descriptions:– span 1-2 paragraphs or even

pages– are contracts: i.e. should

contain everything you don’t want to leave to discretion of implementers

– have due date and milestones.


How to build the chart

• Create an empty roles & responsibilities matrix– Ask people to volunteer for

preferred roles & tasks– If not enough people for a

task ask people to “step up” to fill the need

– Ensure no one is overloaded– Ensure teams that need to

communicate have common members


How to build the chart

• Make deadlines reflect experience and ability to deliver on time

• For inexperienced managers – assign tasks of a short duration– Divide big tasks into pieces and use

short-term deadlines

• For experienced managers– can trust with tasks that take a long time

to complete

• Otherwise – may end up months behind on a “big”

task – not have enough time to do something

about it.


Critique of a matrix

Clios Scenarios Storage Transport Terrorism EnergyProjectManagement

Jason [email protected] P CM:

Present’n

Delphine [email protected] P P P

Nurettin [email protected] C M

Timothee [email protected] P C

Jessica [email protected] C P C

Hooman [email protected] P M: Overall

Tony [email protected] P P

Betsy [email protected] C M M: Editing & Integration

Matthew [email protected] P P C

Kate [email protected] P M: Overall

Joshua [email protected] P M P

Alisa [email protected] M P

Ayanna [email protected] P P

Kelvin [email protected] P M

Satwiksai [email protected] M C C

Masahiro [email protected] P P

Ali [email protected]

Legend:M - Managers Ultimately responsible for the deliverable

P - Partners Responsible for some portion of the deliverable

C - Consultants No deliverable but expected to provide information and advice

1 Manger,No

partners… person may be

overloaded

1 Partner, 1 Consultant .. does this person have enough work?

It turns out the person volunteered for a lead role in the next project


How to get commitment• Commitment is crucial!• After matrix completed:

– Verify accuracy with team– Get team’s commitment

• Via Email: – Send everyone a copy– Ask if changes need to be made– Confirm agreement to

deadlines• Alternately:

– Some managers ask team to sign paper copy of the matrix, task descriptions and GANTT charts.

Accountability

Make it difficult for people to claim

ignorance of their responsibilities

BasicIdea

whichpromotes


It also helps to post the matrix publicly

• Why? – Difficult for people to feign ignorance of

due dates or their responsibilities– promotes public accountability – I.e. everyone knows everyone else’s due

dates

• Can be achieved by posting matrix on:– A wall in the workplace– On the team’s web site (or a Yahoogroup)


Milestones

• Definition: – Milestone = deliverable + due

date

• Example:– Draft Report (due 1/3/04)– Final Report (due 1/3/04)

• Can be much more granular:– i.e. draft of a section

(as opposed to draft of entire report)


Phased Delivery

• Whenever possible – divide project into phases

• Why?– Here’s an example


Example: Value of Phased Delivery

• Suppose you are – appointed to a new job

• Task: – To produce something – Let’s suppose we’re

producing a piece of software


Phased Delivery Example (cont’d)

• Estimated completion time: – 1 year

• Management questions every move– Especially requests for:

• Money• resources • people.

• Suppose– Project could be divided into 3 phases

(i.e. each phase lasting 4 months)


Phased Delivery Example: Continued

• Without Phased Delivery:– 1 year before you deliver

something useful– … and a 1 year to gain

credibility

• With Phased Delivery:– Deliver something useful in 3

months– Win credibility in 3 months– Boost team’s confidence in 3

months


Phased Delivery

• Takeaway:– Phased deliver helps your

team more quickly win:• credibility • confidence • management’s trust

– Winning management’s trust is important because:• It helps you to more easily

get the resources you need to be successful in future phases.


Phased Delivery

• Takeaway (cont’d):• Also if project terminated

after the 1st phase: – they will still be left with

something useful

• Phased delivery also allows– Time for contingency if

issues arise


Why use milestones (cont’d)

Other important reasonsto use phased delivery:

• Phased delivery implies milestones

• Forces people to show progress.

• If milestone not delivered – you will know project is

falling behind early enough to do something about it!


Set up a public delivery mechanism• Idea: If someone fails to

deliver on time everyone will know

• Can be achieved via web site– Give all team members

access– Ask everyone to upload

documents by due date

• Use a naming convention for documents. – For example:

<team name>_<version>.doc


3 ways to check progress

• 1. My favorite: Call or visit the task’s manager– Ask “How’s it going?” or start small talk– Person will often, start talking about project– Doesn’t make you perceived as bossy– If you don’t have strong faith in manager

may want to check progress the task’s “Partners” too.

– Best managers: know not only when something has gone wrong but also know if something might go wrong.


3 ways to check progress

2. Have periodic meetings with managers– Provide richer information

than e-mail– Provide managers with

incentive to show progress– But time consuming

3. E-mail– Request reports via e-mail

(good for non-risky tasks)– Send reminders of due dates

(recommended)


Critical Path Analysis via a PERT chart

Invite Speaker

2 days

BookRoom½ day

Create list ofMedia outlets

2 days

Design& PrintPosters

2 days

Put upPosters½ day

ContactMediaOutlets

2 days

Run Event

1 day

Buy Refreshments

¼ days

start end


Critical Path Analysis

Invite Speaker

2 days

BookRoom½ day


2 days


2 days

Put upPosters½ day

ContactMediaOutlets

2 days

Run Event

1 day

Buy Refreshments

¼ days

start end

If task B can only be started if task A is completed,

we draw an arrow from A to

B


Critical Path Analysis

Invite Speaker

2 days

BookRoom½ day


2 days


2 days

Put upPosters½ day

ContactMediaOutlets

2 days

Run Event1 days

Buy Refreshments

¼ days

start end

The critical path is the

longest path in days


Critical Path• If anything on the

critical path is delayed,– the whole project is

delayed

• Conversely if a task is not on critical path– It can be delayed to

some extent without delaying the whole project


Critical Path

• Often good idea to:– Closely monitor tasks

on the critical path

• If a task on critical path falls behind:– Try to re-allocate

resources from tasks not on the critical path to that task.


You will likely work with people more senior than yourself

• Most companies are “matrix organizations”

• i.e. you are simultaneously assigned to:– a department -- such as

“marketing” and – a product or project

• Implication: in your career you will probably be called to manage peers and managers.


How to check on peers• How do you check on your

peers – Without seeming bossy?– Especially people more senior?

• Good news: since every task is a deliverable– It can be monitored– You can ask if it’s done yet

• Also Accountability in system so strong – People will feel pressured to do

tasks even without your involvement

Nonetheless you willStill have to check on Peers …


What to do if someone is late

• Sometime legitimate reasons; i.e. illness• If task is on critical path

– May decide to divert resources from non-critical tasks.

• Ask them to make a public commitment– Get them to send e-mail to their team or

manager with the new promised due date.– Why e-mail?

• E-mail is like a contract (can always refer back to it)• Accountability


Channeling Outside Pressures

• If no feeling of urgency…– Work usually doesn’t get done

• Technique for creating urgency: – PERT Chart– Channeling outside pressures

• Explain consequences to project if task falls behind– Critical path analysis– Implications to project’s client

• Pressure from outside circumstances – rather than yourself


Risk Management

• List top 3-5 things that could go wrong

• Create plan – to deal with set-backs if they do

happen

• Risky tasks– Closely monitor them– Assign best, most experienced

people


What’s considered a ‘risky’ task?

• Tasks that:1. depend on work by outside

parties• especially if those parties are not

as motivated as you are to deliver• Example: if you need timely

delivery of materials

2. are inherently complex• Lots of possible points of failure• Software



• Tasks that:3. have never been tried before

• No one knows how long they will take• No one with experience on team

4. hard to define • If you can’t even define the work ..how do you

get started? How do you know you are finished?• If in this conundrum, may want to consider

spending more time understanding task or creating an outline

• Example: create a table of contents or outline of a report before you start it.



3. Where you have a lack of control over resources• Example: Person on the team may

simultaneously be assigned to another more important project

• Issue: person’s availability cannot be guaranteed

– Solution: • Get them to do task up-front OR• Find someone else who doesn’t have such

conflicts


Gantt Analysis

• Parallelize tasks

• Put riskiest things first

• Gives you time to work around failure of risky task


Leapfrogging

• Used by Intel• Increase output

without causing burn-out

• We Illustrate by example:– Suppose you wish to

have an event on campus every month.


Leapfrogging

Option1: Standard way

– The whole team organizes an event every month

Option 2: Leapfrogging

– Divide team into 3 independent teams

– Each team organizes one event every 3 months

Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan FebTeam 1 Team 2 Team 3 Team 1 Team 2 Team 3

Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan FebEntire Team

Entire Team

Entire Team

Entire Team

Entire Team

Entire Team


How to run meetings

• Do’s: – Post agenda in advance

• Reason 1: people come prepared• Reason 2: prevents needless meetings

– Confirm agenda at beginning of meeting– Establish consensus on time limits for each

agenda item that can overruled by vote.– Appoint a time keeper to enforce time

limits with notices given 5, and 10 minutes before.

– Create sub-teams empowered to make to avoid the need for meetings in the first place


Visioning Process• Too often

– people will start making matrices and schedules without consulting team

• As a result teammates may not understand – how their task is related to

the project’s overall success

• Consequently – strong likelihood of

misunderstanding the criteria for declaring their task a success.


Visioning ProcessSolution: • Try to clearly define what

“success” means. – Ex: “we’ll know our project was a

success if X,Y, and Z are true.”

• Allow team to– help define project via meetings

or some other medium

• if they helped defined it, they will:– Understand the project– Feel joint ownership


Some final thoughts

• Integration– Putting people’s work together– A task in and of itself– If possible put someone in charge of doing

this• Example: A report

– Need to:• Edit writing • Enforce common look and feel of report• Work with teams when changes need to be

made• Print and bind report

– Not trivial ..can be a lot of work!


Some final thoughts• Best to have:

– A core team or at least one person to manage the managers

– i.e. an “overall project manager”– If you don’t one there will be no

one to push the managers or call progress meetings.

• Each task can be considered a project– Can create a matrix just for a task– Need depends on number of

members assigned to task and complexity


Leadership = Service

“The attitude of the individual as a servant, ... exemplified in … 'Abdu'l-Bahá, … permeates

the activities of the Faith… It is in this framework that the concepts of rulership and

leadership, authority and power are properly understood and

actualized.”

-From a Letter dated 19 May 1994 from the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly


• Set up– Make every task a deliverable – Create roles matrix– Write Task description document– Use Milestones = deliverables +

due dates– Get commitment from individuals– Have a risk mitigation strategy

• Execution– Post matrix publicly– Check interim progress– Use a transparent delivery

mechanism

Summary


HOW TO MANAGE PROJECTS

Hooman Katirai · Unravel 2004 · Feedback: [email protected]: http://www.mit.edu/~hooman


Your TA for the breakout

Sanaz Holakoozadeh• Project Manager CIBC

– 8th largest bank in North America

• Formerly Project Manager at – Sun Microsystems


Why the system works• Accountability – the single person responsible

makes things happen.• Transparency – If someone hands in things

late, everyone will know.• Clarity – Everyone knows their roles,

responsibilities, and due dates just by looking at the matrix

• Planning – Risks were identified and a plan was made.

• Shame – If Leverages the fact that no one wants tolook bad in front of their peers.

• Hierarchical – Well defined leadership structure

how to manage projectsunravel ‘04 how to manage projects hooman katirai · unravel 2004 · toronto

Documents

better way

old way result

decision result

task listis

axisthe old fashioned

world bank

meeting result

project manager