The PMP

     The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the main association for the project management profession.   What makes the PMI so important to the business world is that it provides a benchmark for employers to gauge whether or not the person they hire is qualified to run projects.   Conversely, the institute gives project mangers seeking working a way to prove themselves to employers.   The PMI accomplishes this through the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification program.  The PMP means that the certified person has:

1.  Demonstrated the appropriate education

2.  Has the appropriate professional experience.

3.  Passed the PMP exam

4.  Agreed to the professional code of the PMI

     Does this mean that everyone that has taken this exam is well qualified to lead a project?   No,  a PMP certified individual may become the worst employee ever, as the guest speaker on Thursday alluded.   However, certifications do prove one thing.  That the person knows something about the material and that they have passed a qualitative test on knowledge in that area.   To an employer, a prospective employee is just a piece of paper.  It takes time to get to know someone and taking the time to get to know everyone who has applied for a job just isn’t practical.   That is why certificates and education are so important on a resume, especially for those who don’t have experience in the field.   These certificates may not help, but they never hurt.  

     Preparing for a large exam takes time.  Cramming is an inefficient way to study.   The brain can only retain so much information in a day.   So a large exam like the PMP should take weeks of study.   Studying does not mean reading.    Studying should consist of taking practice exams and working through problems, this is how I plan to prepare for the PMP.  Why am I taking this test?  To be a little more qualified than the next guy.

Human Resource Annoyances

    

    The presentation seen in class made a point to talk about how much body language and tone contributed to the meaning of the speaker and how little the words meant.  This is true for relationship and many human endeavors, but for business, you are better off listening to the words.   The worst bosses with which I have worked have all been body language people.  The problem with this is that humans are generally horrible at listening and just as bad with observation.   Don’t believe me? Check out the following link, http://bigthink.com/ideas/20583.  If this is your first time experiencing this experiment, chances are you missed the 200 pound gorilla in the room.  Doesn’t that make you feel so much better about the observational skills of people in general?  Just wait till the judge the intent of your words through your body language.  It is horrible.   

    A comedian once made a joke about liars always making the best first impressions.  Dr. Paul Ekman explored a similar concept with his experiments with micro-facial expressions.  He found that people are horrible at spotting deception.  Of 20,000 people tested, only 50 could reliable detect is someone was lying or not.  He found that the true facial expressions of people reveal themselves for only a fraction of a second and that reading these “micro-facial expressions” was the key to determining the true feelings of the tested person.  The point is not many people have this ability to read micro-facial expressions.  So they rely on what they know or more accurately what they think they know.  This means that as the comedian stated they fall for liars. 

 

     This isn’t to say that gut reaction are all misleading.  Most gut reactions are not instinct, but quick decision based on years of experience.   That is the key years of experience.  Most people who are really into body language are new at the technique and the methods of reading aren’t really taught in any detail as to make the person an expert.  In the meantime, try relying on the words and stop trying to second guess people based on body language.   Words contain many important things such as who, what, when where and why.  Body language can convey a lot, but sometimes words say just as much.  That is probably why humans started using words.   Diagrams are good as well.   Also, the thing about written words is that they are pretty permanent, so I can always go back and  read them… word for word.

The Frustrated Farmer Performs Risk Management

    

    A farmer must move a chicken, fox and wheat across a river.   Why this farmer has a fox is unimportant, but the fox belongs to the farmer so he must move it across the river.  The farmer has a raft that can take him across the river, but there is only room for him and one object.   The chicken will eat the wheat, if unsupervised.  The fox will eat the chicken, if unsupervised.  The raft has no propulsion device other than the farmer and the farmer has no rope. What is the farmer to do?   This riddle explains risk management well.  If you aren’t thinking about the risks involved in your project, then you are likely to lose your chicken because you left it with the fox.    The riddle also shows that the risk management plan, isn’t something separate from the project plan, but an integral part.  The risk management plan is defined a plan that documents the procedures for managing risk throughout a project.   Risk is defined as an uncertainty that can have a negative or positive effect on meeting project documents.  Let’s go back to the farmer.  Without analyzing the risk, the farmer goes ahead and crosses the river with the fox only to come back and find the wheat was eaten by the chicken.  At least, the farmer had a short project with which to deal, albeit the project was a failure.  

    Let’s say instead the farmer took a project management class and when through the six steps of risk management.  Hopefully before leaving for the river, he would have planned, identified risks, performed qualitative risk analysis, performed quantitative risk analysis, planned risk responses, and monitored and controlled.  This allowed him to identify the risks of the fox eating the chicken, the chicken eating the wheat, and the problems of crossing the river.  It is clear the project objectives can not be completed without planning for these risks.  These risks should be an integral part of the plan.  The farmer performs qualitative and quantitative risk analysis.  In the qualitative sense, losing any of the three items is horrible for the farmer.   No cost can be associated with the fox, so the value of the fox is purely qualitative.  The farmer just likes the fox that much.  In the quantitative sense, the wheat and the chicken cost $50 and $20 respectively.  The loss of these items hit the farmer in the wallet.  The farmer can respond to these risks in four ways, avoidance, acceptance, transference, and mitigation.   Clearly, he can not accept the risk since  the consequences are too great.   He transfer the risk by hiring a moving company, but this is too expensive.  He could mitigate the risk by never leaving the fox alone with the chicken or the chicken alone with the wheat.  This seems to be a good idea.  However if the farmer was smart, he included risk management in his initial planning versus considering it separately.  He then avoided the risk by not taking the river route or bringing his friend Bob to help him move the items.  Either way, the risk is controlled before reaching the river.

    While risks can not always be avoided, all risks are easier to control when they are identified early in the planning process.   Too many people see risk management as a Cover Your Avenues (CYA) asset that is done after planning.  This is the wrong way to approach risk, risk should be the plan.  

Human Resources is Magic.

Human resource management encompasses motivation techniques, empathic listening, responsibility assignment matrices, project organizational charts, and team building exercises. The processes involved are developing a human resource plan, acquiring the project team, developing the project team, and managing the project team.  In a nutshell, human resource management is about motivation and networking.  These are the same lessons learned by Twilight Sparkles in my little pony friendship is magic.  In the first episode, Twilight Sparkles develops a human resources plan as she is tasked by her queen to prepare for a celebration and to go learn about friendship.  Twilight Sparkles ignores the later objective.  However, when she finally realizes the importance of the team, she is able to save pony land by assembling the elements of harmony.  Thus, she displayed the importance of assembling the right team and managing them effectively. 

               Motivation is a big part of human resources.   Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the first step in motivating people.  This theory states that people’s behaviors are guided or motivated by a sequence of needs.  If a persons physiological and safety needs are not met, they are not very likely to care about accomplishing a project.  Unless, that project fulfills those needs.   Many managers use their various powers, coercive, legitimate, expert, reward and referent power, while forgetting about the basic needs.   While these methods may work temporarily, you must address a person’s underlying needs for them to remain effective. 

               Networking is something at which I am not very good.  Why is networking important?   Well networking can be basically summed as building relationships that can assist you in the future.   In general, people are more sympathetic to people they know.  By creating these human networks, you can better influence external organizations.  This can make it easier to assemble the team, since well-established connections with sections heads means they will cooperate more and will be more prone to give you competent team members.  Remember as a project manager, you will often see the functional organizational structure in which you have the least amount of power.  This kind of structure means a more heavy reliance on section heads.

             

              Learn from Twilight Sparkles and understand, “Friendship is magic.”

Too Much Scope

    One of my favorite shows to watch is Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel.  This show follows Adam Richman in his pursuit to find the biggest and best foods the U.S of A offers.  At the end of every episode, Adam takes on the local food challenge.  This ranges from eating a 4.5 pound steak with sides in 60 minutes to four pounds of pancakes with one pound of toppings in 90 minutes.   What does this have to do with project management you ask?   This has to do with scope creep.   Scope creep refers to uncontrolled changes or continuous growth in the scope of a project.  Remember scope is the work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.  Like Adam, victims of scope creep may soon find the juicy, succulent steak has suddenly morphed into a monstrous 4.5 pound steak that needs to be finished in less than an hour.  Something fairly pleasant morphed into a struggle that leaves many people giving up before they have finished.  

    So what causes scope creep?  Scope creep can be caused by a disingenuous customer, poor change control, lack of proper scope definition, a weak project manager or executive sponsor, and poor communication.  Scope creep to sum it up is change.   Any change can bring more or less cost, time or labor to a project.  Change control management is vital to scope creep.   Change control is a formal process used to ensure that changes to a product or system are introduced in a controlled and coordinated manner.  This occurs at every level.  The project manager must decide whether a change is necessary, whether it is within their authority to make the change, and what impact the change will have on the overall project.   Without a formal means for change control, many unnecessary changes will occur, because they are outside of the authority of the project manager.   Thus, a Change Control Board (CCB) is necessary to ensure that conflicts the project manager can not solve can be arbitrated by a sponsor with sufficient authority.   Thus, through proper change control a project manager can limit change, and thus limit scope.

    One last thing about scope creep, a project manager may not be able to influence all external changes, but they should be able to influence most internal changes.  This is where the management part comes into play.   A manager makes decisions.   Thus, a project manager needs to decide what to do with changes.   Not all changes need to go to upper management, nor do they need customer approval.  You may ask which ones are which?   This is why you are being paid, to make a decision.   You could send every change to the customer and sponsor, but you would quickly find that your project is being slowed down as your team awaits decisions.  The customer and sponsor would get annoyed at you for bringing everything to their attention and wonder what your role really is.   So make a decision.  Will you be wrong sometimes, yes.  That’s just the way things are, but if the project manager is blamed when things go wrong wouldn’t you rather have it have been because you made the wrong call, than someone else made the wrong call for you.