Best Practices

I have always been enamored with quotation and sayings that left me laughing for hours and could make me smile whenever I recall the said quotes.

It’s time to put a temporary lid on the serious stuff and make way to fun and very entertaining project management quotes from Stephen Seay’s blog, ProjectSteps. I have two recent posts which also tackled some of these project management quotes. These posts are Random Thoughts on Project Management and Random Thought in Project Management Part 2. In my opinion, quotes are a different way of providing us knowledge through a fun and entertaining way. Texts which could illicit a response from other people (regardless of the emotion) is something that I consider as an effective one.

Without much ado, here is another collection of project management quotes:

Project Management Quotes
• Quantitative project management is for predicting cost and schedule overruns well in advance.

• Good project managers know when not to manage a project.
• Metrics are learned men’s excuses.
• For a project manager overruns are as certain as death and taxes.
• If there were no problem people there’d be no need for people who solve problems.
• Some projects finish on time in spite of project management best practices.
• Good project managers admit mistakes: that’s why you so rarely meet a good project manager.
• Fast – cheap – good: you can have any two.
• There is such a thing as an unrealistic timescale.
• The more ridiculous the deadline the more money will be wasted trying to meet it.
• The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time the last 10% takes the other 90%.
• The project would not have been started if the truth had been told about the cost and timescale.
• To estimate a project, work out how long it would take one person to do it then multiply that by the number of people on the project.
• Never underestimate the ability of senior management to buy a bad idea and fail to buy a good idea.
• The most successful project managers have perfected the skill of being comfortable being uncomfortable.
• When the weight of the project paperwork equals the weight of the project itself, the project can be considered complete.
• If it wasn’t for the ‘last minute’, nothing would get done.
• Nothing gets done till nothing gets done.
• Warning: dates in the calendar are closer than you think.
• There is no such thing as scope creep, only scope gallop.
• Anything that can be changed will be changed until there is no time left to change anything.
• If project content is allowed to change freely the rate of change will exceed the rate of progress.
• If you can interpret project status data in several different ways, only the most painful interpretation will be correct.
• A project gets a year late one day at a time.
• A project isn’t over until the fat check is cashed.
• Powerful project managers don’t solve problems, they get rid of them.

Money has always been seen as the best reward a firm would give to their employees for a job well done. Nowadays, this kind of method is not frequently practiced because of the lack of funds as well as for the money-saving efforts of firms.

What’s a manager to do? Relax, Take it easy. Money is not the only thing that could be used as a source of motivation by managers. In the article entitledManagement Style: Three ways to say thanks when raises aren’t an option, it showcased three methods which could help managers when money is not an option as a type of reward for the workers.

I decided to come up with my own guidelines which could somehow give managers an idea on how to manage their team if there is limited resources. Here are some of the things included in my guidelines:

The Limited Managing Guide
• Be resourceful – this is the time wherein a manager needs to maximize their resources and at the same time use anything that would yield favorable results to the team.
• Do your research – research would be able to save you and the team lots of time in terms of finding out relevant information. It means that a little research and background check of the team members would be able to help the manager find out a common activity that would further develop the working relationship of the team.
• Use your imagination – the key to reaching out to your team members might not need to be expensive. Use you imagination and let your creative side take-over. The more imaginative and unique, the more chances of making it memorable.
• Integrate new and old ideas – this kind of approach would certainly make team members at their edge because a combination of these ideas would only mean one thing: effectivity.

These are just some of the guidelines that could help project managers in thinking of ways to motivate their team when the simple solution of financial rewards is not available. These methods would more or less guide PM in their difficult path of cost-saving.

I recently posted an article entitled CEOs: Looking Forward to a Positive Future which shows that most CEOs are putting on a positive note as they face the year 2006.

In relation to that, a recent research done by Forrester shows the six economic trends that CEOs/CIOs should give attention to. These economic trends would help these leaders to plan their future actions as well as in implementing different business strategies. The research also indicated the reason why these powerful leaders should be abreast with the current trend stating that: CIOs and prudent IT groups should keep track of developments in the wider economy in order to anticipate and prepare for the challenges and opportunities their business partners will face.

Six Economic Trends:
1. higher energy prices and an increased focus on energy conservation

This trend means that firm leaders should shift their plans towards “conserving” rather than having an increase in IT budget on oil-based industries.

1. greater risks of disruption from natural disasters and terrorist attacks

Leaders should anticipate the unexpected dangers brought about by natural calamities.

1. aging populations and retirement benefit crunches

Due to these trend in employment, leaders should find a way to have quality workers in their firms.

1. the cessation of housing as an economic growth engine

This means that CEOs should implement a lower IT expenditures on housing-related industries.

1. moderately higher inflation and interest rates

Due to this prediction, leaders should find a way to make the impact of this trend be felt less.

1. accelerating technology globalization and slowing trade globalization

This means that a shift towards cost-saving business strategies like offshoring and low-cost operation should be considered.

Thoughts and Insights

There is nothing wrong in being updated regarding the latest trend and development in the world of business. As they said, information is power and nothing is more formidable than a CEO or CIO that is well-informed regarding important matters in a business. These economic trends predicted by Forrester should be given importance by these powerful leaders so that they know what to expect in the near future. Aside from that, they could also implement different business strategy in order to fight the inevitable problems that the firm could face in the years to come. Though these trends are more ofwhat is likely to happen and not the exact thing, it could be a relevant prelude of the kind of things to come. Whatever the case may be, being prepared is definitely a good practice to implement regardless if you are a CEO or just a regular employee in the firm.

One of the advantages in offshoring is the money that firms save in terms of operations and hiring. On the other hand, one of the disadvantages mentioned in offshoring is the culture gap that the firm and their employees experience in this kind of business strategy. The best way to turn this disadvantage into an advantage is to pick an IT leader that is able to understand the culture of both worlds.

In the article entitled, Casting Call for Global Talent, it talks about how firms could choose the best leader in this kind of situation. Most of the time, firms determine the leaders for this kind of business strategy based on the common characteristics needed for a leadership position. Firms need to understand that in this case, they should consider culture awareness of a person because it is one of the big hindrance in establishing a peaceful relationship in offshoring.

In this case, people that were born in the said offshoring destinations but are also aware of Western customs are the best likely candidate for the job. As mentioned in the article, expatriates that are willing to go back to their place of origin are the best ones for the position. In this way, they would be able to understand the thoughts of the employees in the offshoring destination and at the same time understand and meet the demands of the Western firm. The candidates for the said job needs to have experienced the culture of both world because in this way, the person would be a more well-rounded one because of its ability to balance the ideals between the two.

Aside from that, the article also mentioned that as early as possible, firms need to invest in these kinds of people because these people would become useful in terms of their outsourcing plan. This kind of strategy is currently practiced at ING North America Insurance Corp. in Atlanta. Jairo Orea, head of regional enterprise information integration described their recruitment process of such people stating that: We start a selection process by looking at a talent pool of individuals identified as high performers and screen their current and past performance, looking for early leadership indicators.

The article also included the 7 most effective ways in the development of a global leader. This was based on the survey done on 81 corporations worldwide by The Conference Board Inc. last December 2005.

Effective Methods for Global Leaders
1. Longer-term international assignments
2. International cross-functional team participation
3. Internal management/executive development programs
4. Developing global management teams
5. Mentoring and/or coaching
6. International leader development centers
7. 360-degree feedback

Thoughts and Insights

Being a leader is already a tough job and being a global leader is twice more than what a normal leader is doing. Being a global leader is a tough job because it means that you have to deal with different people from different culture. Aside from that, you still have to implement policies and regulations that the firm follows. Not every rule is applicable in every culture because there are a lot of factors needed to consider before stating that the rules are effective. In this case, rearing a global leader means that these firms should be able to adapt in the different changes and also needs to easily get along with others because these basic skills are needed in order to be an effective global leader.

Culture is something that should come naturally in a group or an organization and not everyone could adapt with certain kind of culture. In project management, there is a term in the tune of “project management culture” which pertains to the norms and ways of people in a project.

In order to adapt with this culture, there should be steps that should be taken in order to ensure that this would run smoothly. Stephen Seay’s blog offers some steps which should be considered whenever such subject is encountered in the course of Project management.

First Steps in PM Culture
• clear definition of roles and responsibilities of Project managers and team members
• forming a basic training plan for project management
• leaders and other supervisors should have advanced training in PM
• establish project management office (PMO) to provide guidance to the progress of PM
• estabish a standard in PM methodology

Additional Project Management Quotes

Here are some of additional PM quotes that could enlighten people in a PM-related work:

Quantitative project management is for predicting cost and schedule overruns well in advance.Good project managers know when not to manage a project.

Metrics are learned men’s excuses.

For a project manager overruns are as certain as death and taxes.

If there were no problem people there’d be no need for people who solve problems.

Some projects finish on time in spite of project management best practices.

Good project managers admit mistakes: that’s why you so rarely meet a good project manager.

Fast – cheap – good: you can have any two.

There is such a thing as an unrealistic timescale.

The more ridiculous the deadline the more money will be wasted trying to meet it.

The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time the last 10% takes the other 90%.

Thoughts and Insights

The culture of a project usually determines how a team would go about their work. This is the reason why some team usually incorporate important values in their working habit. For example, if a team happens to practice a well-planned and organized culture, the chances of a project being done on time and on schedule would be high. Through practicing these steps mentioned in the article, teams would be more or less inclined to give their all whenever doing something that is work-related.

Pardon my cluttered mind but it seems like I can’t have a direct focus on what topic to zoom in today’s blog post. Due to that, I decided to have a second part of my random thoughts. All of which are related to project management.

Changes in PM

I recently discovered Stephen Seay’s blog which provides useful information regarding project management. Being a project manager himself, I am sure that he would be able to give you a different view of project management because of his knowledge and experience in the industry.

In his blog, I stumbled upon his entry entitled Eight Stage Process of Creating Major Change which shows the step-by-step process of incorporating change in a project. This was taken from the book “Leading Change” by John P. Kotter. These stages are supposed to be followed whenever there are major changes to be implemented.

The Eight Stage Process of Creating Major Change
• Establishing a Sense of Urgency
• Creating the Guiding Coalition
• Developing a Vision and Strategy
• Communicating the Change Vision
• Empowering Broad-Based Action
• Generating Short-Term Wins
• Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change
• Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture

Thoughts and Insights

The steps that were shared through the book is a very helpful one to all project managers out there. Why? Well, as we all know, nothing is permanent in this world except change therefore the least that we could do is to make sure that we are ready for the changes that are going to happen someday. These steps could be considered as the guidelines on how to manage the changes that are supposed to happen as well as the basis on how to act in certain situations. I believe that these steps would help a project manager in the adjustment process because adjusting is a difficult process and a little help would be more than appreciated at this situation.

Addtional Quotes on Project Management

I just have to share these wonderful quotes with you because of its witty and wise-crack humor. Of course, I got these quotes from the same blog. So read on and enjoy the humor but keep in mind the lessons!

A badly planned project will take three times longer than expected – a well-planned project only twice as long as expected.

If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs, you haven’t understood the plan.

When all’s said and done a lot more is said than done.

If at first you don’t succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.

Feather and down are padding – changes and contingencies will be real events.

There are no good project managers – only lucky ones.

The more you plan the luckier you get.

A project is one small step for the project sponsor, one giant leap for the project manager.

Good project management is not so much knowing what to do and when, as knowing what excuses to give and when.

If everything is going exactly to plan, something somewhere is going massively wrong.

Everyone asks for a strong project manager – when they get him they don’t want him.

Overtime is a figment of the naïve project manager’s imagination.