Category Archives: Project Management

Losing ourselves in the moment….

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or maybe it’s just on conference calls. I believe strongly in remote work, and by extension I believe in asynchronous communication like email and chat apps, but also believe we need real-time communication like phone calls, conference calls or web sharing sessions. However, I am still amazed by how people behave on conference calls. It seems as if people just lose a little bit of themselves, and forget common courtesies. Today I’m going to use my soapbox to discuss some of my bigger pet peaves.conference-call-meme

  1. Remember everyone on the conference call, not just those in the room. As a project manager, I try to be conscious of everyone on the call. This includes multiple people that might be in the same room or that person sitting alone. There have been times where I’ve been the only decision maker participating by conference call. During these times, I feIt I had to time my opportunity to speak up just right. I had to do this by jumping in on any pause, regardless of where the discussion was at the time.  Alternatively, I will often have side conversations via text to facilitate progress. For people in the same room, or for the conference call organizer, it is important to remember to intentionally include all participates. You invited them for a reason.
  2. Someone needs to lead the call. The belief that conference calls aren’t effective speaks more to the organization of the call, than anything else. There is always a reason a conference call gets scheduled. Someone needs to facilitate the call. What are you trying to accomplish? What is the take away? And most helpful, if something needs to be prepared or investigated beforehand, make sure that expectation was set when the call was scheduled. Otherwise you are wasting everyone’s time.
  3. Don’t forget your manners. I guess all my frustration really boils down to this. I want to believe that we are all passionate human beings and sometimes tempers flair. I know that’s happened to me. We can only control our own behavior so let’s try to reign in our tempers and remember we are all there, in that moment, for a common good.

 

Semi-homemade is better than bespoke for data analytics

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I read a product review this week where the company referred to themselves as a provider of “bespoke” data analytics. I had never heard that term used in the context of data analytics, or software specifically. However, when I googled the term, I found many companies using it in their marketing language, but no reference to it by the people who write about data analytics or software. This led me to start thinking about my experiences managing data integration software projects and how my customers view the solutions.

The projects that I’ve worked on in the last couple of years have primarily been data integration projects where we are combining multiple datasources into a single data warehouse and then leveraging that data to deliver data insights. The platform has some standard integration components that you can leverage, but there is also room for quite a bit of custom development. In every implementation, I have had conversations about what “standard” tools are available and what capabilities can be developed custom. On one hand, once these customers start reviewing the available tools, the first questions asked are usually about how we can customize those tools to their business. Each customer self-identifies as a unique even though most are within the same overall industry. There are always unique scenarios for each customer that needs to be accounted for.

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http://www.giandecaro.com/img/background-bespoke.jpg

On the other hand, customization takes time and effort, regardless of whether the work is done in house or by external consultants. Where does that leave us if our customers want/need something specific to their business but don’t want or can’t invest the time and money to do so?

I think as integration partners, we are probably looking at the entire product management and implementation process incorrectly. Our customers need a balance of standard tools that they can quickly customize to their specific needs along with partners who will work with them to develop custom solutions for new or innovative work. This is similar to the idea of leveraging a template to develop your website, but then be able to customize your experience by changing colors or adding widgets that extend the template capabilities. We can think of these types of products as “semi-homemade.”

Semi-homemade is a term used heavily by Sandra Lee regarding her cooking style. She leverages pantry staples and other ingredients and creates amazing dishes. By not having everything made from scratch, Sandra Lee reduces the cooking & prep time but is still able to deliver tasty dishes people want to eat. If we apply the same principles to data analytics, I think we can definitely leverage some basic tools that we allow people to extend or meld, which result in delivering data insights without the pain of everything being a custom solution.

It’s time to shift our mindset away from solely developing out of the box solutions, or solely developing custom solutions. Product and services should be working together to build base tools that are easily extended to meet the changing needs of our customers. We won’t totally eliminate the need for custom solutions, or new products for that matter. But we will more quickly be able to meet the changing needs of our customers.

 

Whose job is QA?

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not-my-problem-meme

Tribute to Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka – it’s not my problem meme

developer.com defines the QA (quality assurance) role as “the role responsible for guaranteeing a level of quality for the end client. It’s about contributing to the quality of the final product.” I really like this definition as it does 3 critical things. First, it highlights the importance of the client. A product that works as designs, but doesn’t solve the customer problem fails to address the crux of software development, giving people an application they need or want. Second, it directly states that the QA role contributes to the quality of the final product. Just as developers contribute to the building of the product, and project managers contribute to getting the project done. Last, this definition removes the perception that QA is the responsibility of a single person. And this, my friends, is the topic of today’s post.

Our job as the project team is to build a solution that solves a customer problem or need. I agree that sometimes you are building a solution that customers don’t know they need yet, but unless that need or problem exists, there’s no point in building it. From the very beginning of development, we should all be working with this goal in mind. And if everyone is focused on the same goal, are we then inherently focused on QA? I think so.

My role as project manager puts me directly in front of the customer. This means that I need to be familiar with the solution, in order to speak intelligibly to customers. I tend to do the “final test” of replicating the steps provided by the customer and using the output as proof that the issue is resolved. Unfortunately, there have been too many times where I’m delivered a solution that doesn’t solve the problem or clearly doesn’t yield the “correct” results. Or, if I report a more general issue about performance, I get very tactical response, rather than considering the customer experience.

So what happens? Why does the solution I’m provided not solve the customer problem? Is it because the developer didn’t understand? didn’t care? More likely, it is the developer did some initial investigation and solved what they thought was the problem but didn’t walk through the steps to see it from the customer perspective and therefore missed a critical step.

I’m not advocating for or implying that I wouldn’t or shouldn’t still have the final sign off not the solution, before delivering it to the customer. I’m suggesting that each person who has touched the solution before getting to me should understand the problem we are trying to solve, and be focused on delivering a quality solution. Each developer should be incorporating regular quality checks into their own development. I never want to hear that “my team doesn’t have a QA person” or “it passed my acceptance test.” If the team members understand the goal, and view QA as a part of their job, the customer solution is bound to be better.

 

All hope is not lost..3 reminders regarding the human side of project management

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folly-beach-shoreline

Folly Beach SC shoreline

I just returned from a friendcation in Charleston, SC. This was a much needed vacation after a few really stressful weeks. This vacation was filled with good food, good friends and perfect weather. More than the relaxation and rejuvenation, this vacation reminded me of some key pieces to the human side of project management. Yes, fundamentally, all project management is human, but many times we forget the basic courtesies as projects get challenging.

These three reminders have been playing through my head today as I have returned to my project work.

Don’t forget the generosity of strangers

On the first day of our travels, we were taken under Mary’s wing. Mary was a new acquaintance of one of the group members, who happened to be from the Charleston area. Mary went above and beyond, picking us up, showing us around her town, chauffeuring us to the drugstore, grocery store, and finally depositing us several hours later at our beach house. She provided us with a list of places to go and things to do. We were four friends with a lot of luggage, and a lot of “asks” but Mary extended her southern hospitality and made our lives a whole lot easier. We hadn’t realized how much until about a day or so later when we realized that there were no available Ubers in the area we stayed during the off-season.

In project management, you are usually so focused on your immediate team members and milestones that you can lose sight of the periphery. You might be missing out on just the thing you need to deliver more effectively.

If you’re all aligned to the same goals, you can make anything work

This particular vacation had 4 friends, traveling from 4 different areas, with 4 different budgets. There wasn’t a single spat or disagreement of any kind. Nobody complained about people’s choices to sleep, or golf, or not drink, or even to work a little. We each respected the boundaries the others set and made arrangements for food or checks or whatever we needed.

During challenging projects, it can sometimes get contentious. It’s important to realize that everyone should be aligned to the same goals, and therefore should be able to work together to make it happen. If you truly start to see and feel stakeholders pulling away from the central goal, you need to explore that. Sometimes goals have changed, or other times it’s the pressure they are feeling approaching a looming deadline, or something else entirely. It’s your job to figure out what it is, and how to work through it.

Beware of the driftwood in the corner

Driftwood & Sea Glass

Driftwood & Sea Glass

The beach house we stayed in was very cute. As we were lounging in the front room chatting on the first day, I noticed this driftwood and sea glass art piece in the corner. As I looked more closely at it, it manifested itself as a dead, jumping rabbit carcass. It was all a bit morbid and creepy, but this became the consensus of the group.

Unfortunately, projects often end up with a similar situation. Something seemingly “artistic” morphs into its not so pretty reality. As the project manager, it’s your job to identify these instances before they escalate. Just like the driftwood rabbit, once all the stakeholders start to “see” these in the project, it’s very hard to un-see them.

I’m really glad I took this time away. Yes, I did a bit of work. But mostly, I didn’t. We relaxed in the sun under an umbrella on Folly Beach. We laughed. We explored. I’m back at work, taking my projects to the finish line and reminding myself of all that I learned.

Thanks friends.

Whose side am I on?

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http://www.kappit.com/img/122260/whooo-what-a-week-im-so-glad-its-tgif/

http://www.kappit.com/img/122260/whooo-what-a-week-im-so-glad-its-tgif/

This has been a tough week. Not only was it busy, it felt like I was spending a lot of time chasing my tail. Unfortunately, it wasn’t isolated to a single client or project. It seemed across the board, I struggled to keep a handle on what was going on. The one consistent point is that neither the client nor the internal project team felt “I was on there side.”

A project manager or customer success manager for technical products are usually smack in the middle between the demanding customer and the product or project team. So, why then did this week bother me so much? I think it was because I am seemingly able to do a better job balancing everyone’s interests. I’m using today’s post to try and figure out what happened and what I can do better next time.

  • Don’t take it personal – First, I really do need to remind myself not to take it personal. As I tell my kids, “I am only responsible for my own behavior.” On the side of the customer, I am the representative of the company. It is my job to hear their issues and feel their pain. Sometimes that escalates if resolutions aren’t found quickly enough for their liking. On the side of the company, it’s my job to be the advocate for the customer. As a company, we need to realize that it’s not personal. We are each doing our job.
  • It’s all about the communication – This leads me to the second critical point. Everybody needs to communicate. The adage “no news is good news” doesn’t apply in project management. No news usually means that nothing has been done. As the advocate for the customer, it’s my job to follow up and get resolutions. At a minimum, at least tell when I can expect a response. This gives me something to tell the customer.
  • We are all on the same team – Lastly, we all need to realize we are on the same team. No matter how well a company “eats their own dog food”, the customers will always be the experts of the products. Just because they are using the system in a way that we didn’t anticipate doesn’t make what they are doing wrong. They are giving us feedback and making it better. Every time they uncover an issue or ask for something, they are driving us forward. Let’s embrace that. Let’s not assume that the customer is doing something wrong. The onus is on us to understand the use case and solve the customer problem.

I think this week’s lesson is pretty clear. I’m glad it’s friday as I need to regroup this weekend to tackle the open issues head on next week. Hopefully I will be able align everyone towards solving the problems. But as for the question I posed, we are all on the same team: product, services, and customers. 

How do you Counter the “Hurry Up and Wait” Game?

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You can get so confused

that you start in to race

down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace

and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,

headed, I fear toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…

-Dr. Seuss “Oh, the Places You’ll Go“

As a project manager who works on complex implementation projects, I find that I spend a lot of time waiting…

  • waiting for developers to finish their work
  • waiting for approval or feedback
  • waiting for resource availability
  • etc

It isn’t the inherent waiting associated with regular project management that’s frustrating, it’s the “hurry up and wait” syndrome that bogs me down.  These are scenarios where you have completed some component of work, are have been waiting for some time for feedback. When the feedback is finally provided, the expectation is that you will turn around a response or resolution immediately. If not managed correctly, this becomes an ugly cycle.

I have to remind myself that this isn’t happening to make my life difficult. There are underlying motivations that I don’t necessarily understand. Ron Ashkenas’s 2014 article in the Harvard Business Review “Two Ways to Reduce “Hurry Up and Wait” Syndrome” suggests that this is a byproduct of the “dramatic acceleration of today’s business culture.” Mr. Ashkenas provides two suggestions for how to minimize the impact by 1) putting a premium on removing low value work so there is more bandwidth for handling urgent issues and 2) do a better job prioritizing new requests as they come in, specifically making decisions on urgency.

I’m a huge supporter of both of these suggestions, but I think the minimize the partnership aspect of working with clients. As a value added partner you should remember these 3 things when faced with the “hurry up and wait” syndrome:

  1. You don’t know what the other person is going through – Yes, you are feeling the stress of the other person’s action, but who knows what they are going through. Maybe this is worse for them.
  2. It is critical you communicate – You need to be able to have a conversation. Tell your customer when you are going to deliver (within reason of course) and deliver. This may not be the requested tomorrow or noon today deadline, but people will generally be reasonable if you set and meet expectations.
  3. Don’t let yourself fall into the “hurry up and wait” syndrome – If you aren’t careful you can find yourself in a situation where you are constantly fighting fires and always reacting to situations. You need to be able to look at all you have to do, across all clients and make legitimate decisions about priority and urgency. By introducing process, you can bring peace to the chaos. It’s this step of building system and process that will allow you to grow and develop smarter as an organization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do your project managers focus on process or delivery?

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I’ve struggled in the past with using the term “project manager” to describe what I do. It almost immediately triggers the question of whether I am PMP certified, and focuses less on my experience delivering projects. Additionally, I think there are quite a few employment roles today that include some project management responsibility. Doing basic project management tasks like scheduling meetings, doing status reports and checking the schedule does not automatically mean that you are able to deliver a project to its completion.

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Rudy Gottschalk wrote a two-part series on shifting from “project management” to “delivery management.” He challenged all of us to look for a different approach, shifting the focus from project artifacts to project delivery.

“Too often project managers follow the rigors of a project management structure, but seem to have no sense of urgency in delivery or at times feel helpless to take control of the project delivery schedule.  They dutifully note progress, document issues and risks, and send minutes with the next meeting invitation. Since these activities fulfill the checklist of project management deliverables required by the organization, they usually give the illusion of progress, although little progress is actually occurring.”

I see this all too often in organizations. One manifestation is very large organizations, where a Project Manager from the PMO (project management office) AND a IT PM (AKA business analyst or delivery manager) get assigned to a project. In this scenario, both resources are expected to coordinate meetings, document decisions and communicate to stakeholders. The real distinction comes in their focus. The project manager tends to focus on following best practices and making sure every box is checked. Often, they are super cautious and tend to be more worried about creating the timelines, rather than the fluidity of project delivery. The delivery manager is primarily responsible for moving the project forward – removing obstacles, managing work assignments and facilitating ownership, driving towards a finish line. By not looking towards the endpoint, you sometimes end up in situations where there are incomplete lists of activities identified for project completion, incorrect timelines or lack of ownership and accountability.

Another manifestation of this problem can be seen in those roles with project management responsibilities. Often times, the immediacy of support tickets, status calls, status reports and the mechanics of the project “workflow” take precedence over delivering towards the end goal. Unfortunately, this can result in delays in getting to the value proposition. Ultimately, it also minimizes the importance of the critical analysis and seeing the overall picture.

If it is not obvious, I strong believe that project managers or those with any project management responsibilities need to be focused on delivery. This means focus on whatever the end result is, be it business value or a specific ROI. Without that target, it is easy to get lost in the logistics and workflow of managing a project, while not actually driving it towards a completion.

A Framework & Critical Decisions for Implementing a Data Integration Project

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I have managed quite a few data integration projects. These are projects defined by the development of software and business projects that help organizations move data between systems and better understand the data they have. While each one is different in data sources, and project owners, overall my approach remains the same. I adapt the tools, timelines, and specific tasks depending on the organization and systems involved. Today, I’m reviewing the framework and critical decisions I rely on.

At it’s most basic level, data implementation projects have 4 core phases: Discovery & Requirements, Consensus/Sign Off, Development & Handoff.

  1. Discovery & Requirements – This first phase is most critical. It is at this point that you truly determine all that you need to know to design a solution.
    1. What business problem are you trying to solve? This lays the groundwork for everything else. Without knowing this information, it would be difficult to solve the right problem, or determine the right metrics by which to measure your success.
    2. Where is the data to solve the business problem? Now that you know what problem you are trying to solve, you need to understand where the data resides. This might be 1 source system or integrating 5 source systems. Are the systems internal or external to the organization? Does it only reside in someone’s head? Make sure to document the owners, stakeholders & gatekeepers. Your design could vary significantly based on what you find.
    3. What is the data format? This information and subsequent conversation should drive additional requirements around software, security, encryption and data transformations (AKA business rules).
    4. How is the data accessed? This should actually help you answer how should the data be accessed. Choose the best tool for the job based on the requirements documented in the prior conversations.
    5. What needs to happen to the data? Sometimes a project is as simple as making data sourced from one system available in part, or in entirety to another system. Often times, it doesn’t align exactly and business rules must be applied before it can be leveraged by other systems.
    6. How often is the data needed? And what triggers the transfer? Does one system push the data? Does the other system pull it? Is this an infrequent process? Or something needed real-time? or is there a triggering event?
    7. Which software is best? It’s finally time to start thinking about the tools, languages, & frameworks, etc. Also, make sure to include where the code resides & how security policies impact integration.
    8. How does feedback work? At a minimum, you need to consider how errors & exceptions are handled. In more complex implementations, data will flow both ways.
  2. Consensus/Sign Off – Document everything you learned and decided in the Discovery & Requirements phase. Everything from the high level problem to the detailed technical decisions that were made. Please, please get sign off from all the relevant stakeholders.
  3. Development – Development & validation go hand in hand.
    1. How will your results be measured? Write your test plans before you begin development. These are based on all the decisions & requirements documented in phase 1. You also want to do periodic data quality checks with the business stakeholders throughout the development process. There are ALWAYS things you find while engaging the business stakeholders, using real data, that you would not find on your own.
  4. Handoff – This is not simply a matter of flipping a switch and transferring ownership. This phase includes documentation, knowledge transfer during transition of ownership, and end-user training (if applicable). If not already, make sure the project artifacts are complete, compiled and made available to the organization. Often times, data integration projects require a period of hypercare where developers work closely with support people, and both the project implementation team and the support team work closely with the end-users, to make sure there are no gaps in knowledge.

Ultimately, the goal of data integration projects is information. There is some set of data in one system that could be made more useful or help derive better insights if connected with data from other systems.

Let me know if you think I’m missing any critical decisions in the process.

A infographic of this methodology is available in the case studies section of the Digital Ambit site.

5 Ways Managing Projects is like Creating the Family Meal Plan

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I am a very food focused individual. I am a pretty good cook and I love to eat. In order to facilitate our weekly family meals, I do a large grocery shopping trip to stock the freezer and pantry with staples. I also visit the grocery store several times a week, if not every day, to pick up any additional items I need once I have been inspired to cook specific things. While I was dwelling on what we had already eaten this week, and what we had already in the fridge, freezer and pantry, I had the thought that this planning was really no different than the project management I do on a daily basis.

http://worldartsme.com/images/balanced-plate-clipart-1.jpg

I’m blending interests to and telling you about the five characteristics I look to create in both.

  1. Inventory – Before you go grocery shopping, you need to determine what ingredients you need. When you first get involved with a project, you need to do an inventory as well. In this case, the inventory allows you to assess what you have and what you need in order to make the project successful. At a minimum, your project inventory should include answering the following questions:
    1. What is the business goal?
    2. What product or solution was sold to the customer?
    3. Does an existing solution meet the need?
    4. What was the committed timeframe?
    5. Who is on the project team?
    6. What tools do you have? need?
    7. What is the budget?
    8. What are the risks?
    9. What are the success criteria?
  2. Variety – I believe in variety in food. This week alone we’ve eaten meals inspired by Italy, Latin America and the United States. In the project context, variety comes most often in the form of the project team. Ideally, my project team is very well rounded. It should include customer stakeholders who understand the business, as well as customer stakeholders than have the technical expertise to help validate and work through technical issues. Additionally, my project implementation team has a variety of skills, whether it be backend and fronted developers, or a data integration/developer and analytics resource. It also helps to have someone to bridge the gap between the technical solutions we are implementing and the customer’s business. Hopefully this me, but sometimes I have to leverage the subject matter experts.
  3. Balance – I’m a bit of stickler for offering a balance dinner plate. I try to always have at least one protein, starch and vegetable option at dinner. Sometimes, I succeed in getting more, and others it doesn’t happen at all. It’s important to create balance in your projects. Most often this refers to the balance established between the budget, scope and schedule. It’s the job of the project manager to set expectations and deliver a solution that meets the business goals.
  4. Budget – This one is probably the most obvious. It is a really good idea both in meal planning and in project management to know your budget. Sometimes, it’s small so you have take shortcuts and make different choices than you would if your budget was large. In the end, it really doesn’t matter what the number is. You need to make sure you know what it is, and drive the conversation around making the choices needed to stay within it (or increase it if you are so lucky.)
  5. Value – It makes me happy when my family and friends enjoy the meals I cook. Every new recipe gets evaluated based on a simple scale of 1) do again, 2) never do again or 3) make some changes and we’ll try it again, but reserve the right to scratch it off the list. A project must have a mechanism for determining completion and value. If there is no defined finish, you risk the never-ending project. And if the project never ends, how do you know if it has created value for the customer. Make sure you have established the success criteria you need to delivery the value you promised.

I hope you enjoyed my blending of my interests. It’s time now to go manage some client projects before heading into the kitchen to cook dinner.

Walking a fine a line

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ayn-rand-quoteI write a fair amount about communication being critical in effective project management, but it is equally (if not more) important to be credible and confident. Being credible and confident allows you to more easily deliver hard news while still retaining the trust from the project stakeholders.

Given my track record of execution, I will often be brought into projects to implement a software solution but then hand off to a long-term customer relationship manager (or whatever you choose to call that role). Often times these long-term customer managers are not as technical as I am. As a result, it is much more difficult to be credible and confident in communication. I’ve been in numerous conversations where the less technical customer manager delivers information to the customer and it is not received well. Some of this occurs because the customer starts asking questions and the customer manager doesn’t have the knowledge, skill or confidence to answer. When I step in and deliver the same message or information, the customer reaction is much more amenable. This occurs because the customer trusts what I say (credibility) and believes that I have the knowledge and expertise to know what I’m talking about (confidence).

Credibility and confidence become even more important if you are pushing back on the customer. Without the effective delivery that credibility and confidence allows you, push back or hard news can be very difficult for a customer to absorb. The end result tends to be a battle of wills that takes you further from a resolution.

An example of this might be when the customer is reporting a series of issues, and voices concern about the overall adoption and effectiveness of the implementation. In reviewing the issues, you find that several of them are training issues that had been covered during the formal training sessions, but seemed to have been forgotten now.

  • One method of communication might be to address each issue separately, answering the symptoms but not the broader issues.
  • Another method is to clearly state that the issue is a training issue and users need to be reminded of x, y and z.

I do lean towards a very direct form of communication, that isn’t everyone’s preference, but it does lead to customers who truly trust me and believe that I’m working on their behalf. In the scenario above, I am more likely to tell the client that we need some refresher trainings since some of the critical basics seem to have been forgotten. Ultimately though I have built the relationship so that this is taken for what it is…a direct approach to delivering based on all my experience. If I fail to establish this relationship and still choose the very direct communication method, I risk alienating the customer.

Communication and relationships are complicated in managing projects. I find that project managers need to walk fine line between being direct and navigating the personalities, needs, and desired outcomes of the project. Establishing the credibility and confidence for whatever system or software your delivering will make your customer interactions easier and will smooth away some of the inherent caution associated with new projects, vendors, systems, etc.