LeftField - News in Project Management
www.project-management.com.au
Welcome to the latest news and views from LeftField Project Solutions.
Successful review...it's all in the timing
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Pilot: This is flight XY1211 requesting landing sequence on approach to Gondor airport. Tower: Why hello there. How was your flight? Pilot: Ah … all fine here. Repeat request for landing sequence prior to commencing our descent. Tower: Well, yes of course. I was just trying to establish some rapport. Your landing sequence to Gondor airport will be issued pending a review of your internal procedures, evaluation of your resource consumption, a review of milestone achievement and receipt of results from a customer satisfaction survey.
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While it can be difficult to determine the right time to review a project, there are some points in time when it is clearly the wrong time.
As with a lot of other professions, project management can be all-consuming, often leaving individuals and teams feeling overwhelmed and at times burnt out. The degree of novelty and complexity of a project dictates that each one is a unique process of discovery.
Although the above example is quite trivial (although perhaps not for the passengers and crew of flight XY1211) it does illustrate that there is a time and place for review.
Rather than having a big review type thingy as the end of your project draws near, you may find it more useful to build small review checkpoints into regular activities. The following technique can be integrated with most activities, and is simple and easy to remember.
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Effective
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What is working effectively? For example: What is working effectively for this Reference Group? Which of our risk mitigation strategies are proving to be effective?
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Develop
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What do we want to develop or do differently from this point forward? For example: What areas of the work breakdown structure / work plan need further development? What do we need to develop or do differently with our key stakeholders?
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Action
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What actions will we now take? For example: Are there any new items to be included on the schedule? What tasks need to be assigned to individuals and by when do we need them completed?
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Usually we can’t afford to wait until the end of the project to reflect on what we have learnt - we need to gather this knowledge as we go, so we can adjust our flight path accordingly!
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Stop, Revive and Survive...your project!
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Planning for 2012
Are you beginning to think about your wish list for 2012? Do any of the following items appear on your list?
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5 experienced resources
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4 less weekly meetings
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3 realistic stakeholders
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2 specified outputs
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and a fully engaged project sponsor
[click here] to hear Sharyn and Bron singing this list to the tune of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'.
Effective Project Sponsorship
We are still waiting for the results of Prosci’s 7th international (Best Practices in Change Management) benchmarking report to hear whether 'active and visible sponsorship' is the number one success factor for change management. In the meantime, you may find it helpful to use the EDA technique above to structure a conversation with your Project Sponsor in preparation for the new year. For example:
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Effective
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What does he/she see is working effectively at present re the project sponsorship role? What does he/she want to continue for 2012?
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Develop
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Are there any aspects to the role that he/she would like to develop or do differently from this point forward? Less of one thing? More of something else?
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Action
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Are there any actions for the project sponsor or project manager to take forward into the new year?
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The above list of questions can be easily adapted and included on the agenda of your next Steering Committee meeting to give them an opportunity for self-review!
IPMA Project Management World Congress
What happens when over 1200 project management professionals gather in the one place? It’s the project management world congress! As mentioned in recent newsletters, the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) hosted the 25th IPMA World Congress in Brisbane in October. Sharyn and Bronwyn attended the conference as full delegates and each presented a paper.
Sharyn’s paper 'Project Steering Committees: Accountable for project results or accidental tourists?' provided an overview of an initiative undertaken by an organisation to enhance the performance of its project steering committees.
Bron’s paper 'ICU – Is your project heading for an Intensive Care Unit? Or will Interaction, Communication & Understanding support your project’s success?' highlighted the importance of the people side of projects by outlining some practical examples where projects have succeeded – or not – as a direct result of the ability of the project manager to engage with clients and stakeholders.
Both papers are available for download from the LeftField website.
Since first attending the AIPM conference in Hobart in 2007, we’ve noticed that the ‘people’ themes have gained momentum and become more explicit. Interestingly, even more prominent as a key theme for the 2012 conference “people, places, projects … a new frontier” in Melbourne.
Most of our clients have commented that 2011 has been a tough year financially, but hopefully it may be more feasible for individuals to attend next year’s conference, especially given the convenient location.
Closing Out 2011
We've had another rewarding year working with our long term clients and some new faces as well. We feel very fortunate that you generously share your projects with us, and we thank you for your trust and support.
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"we still haven't ascertained the true identity of some of our clients..."
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Our favourite quote for the year is: 'Thanks for that, they've been fun to have here - I like anything that smiles back!'
Please accept our well wishes for a relaxing and refreshing break over the Christmas period. We are also taking the opportunity to recharge and we'll be back on board in February.
Please refer to the Training Consortium's website for a listing of LeftField public workshops for 2012.
About Us
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LeftField Project Solutions is a boutique Tasmanian firm of project practitioners who have complementary skills in the area of project management. Our firm comprises two principal consultants – Bronwyn Cross and Sharyn White – combining strong technical knowledge with leading-edge expertise in people management.
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Why you?
You’re receiving this newsletter because you’re on our mailing list; we thought you’re just the sort of person who might enjoy hearing stories about other projects and maybe learning some tips to make yours go more smoothly.
Feel free to pass it along to anyone you think might be interested.
We’ll be respectful of your time (and privacy) with these occasional newsletters. And of course you can unsubscribe any time you like using the link at the bottom of this page.
No no no - you really don't want to hear us sing!!!
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