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Three Techniques for Scope Change Management 1. Hold Everyone Accountable for Scope Management Many scope management processes work well at the project manager level, but get compromised by team members. If the project manager is diligent in enforcing the scope change rules, your customer may try to go directly to team members for changes. The bottom line is that everyone needs to be held accountable for the scope management process. Team members must understand the process and why it is important. Your customer  must also understand the process and its importance. Don't consider these procedures to be only of interest to the project manager and the sponsor. Make sure the procedures are communicated to the entire team. 2. Use a Change Control Board for Large Projects Sometimes on very large projects, the project sponsor does not feel comfortable making the scope change decisions alone. This may especially be the case if the effect of the change will impact other organizations. It ...

Five Steps Before Estimating Work Estimating is hard enough. It is even harder if you are not prepared. Estimating a 20 hour chunk of work is not so hard. Estimating for full projects or large chunks of work can be challenging. Templates can help , but consider the following steps before you begin the estimating process. Get a clear picture of the work that is being estimated Many problems with estimation come because the estimator is not really sure what the work entails. You should avoid estimating work that you do not understand. This should not imply that you can know every detail. The estimating contingency is a way to reflect some of this remaining uncertainty. Determine who should be involved in the estimating process The project manager may or may not know enough to make the estimates on his or her own. It is usually a good practice to look for estimating help from team members, clients, subject matter experts, etc. This will usually result in the estimates being far more accur...

The Power of the Aligned Organization   When was the last time you rode in a car with wheels that were not properly aligned? Chances are it was a pretty rough ride. The car either pulled in one direction, making it hard work to keep it in your lane, or, it worked against itself as one tire pointed one way and another tire another way. The same thing can happen in our companies. The ride can be pretty bumpy, not to mention noisy, unless everyone is pointed in the same direction. That’s why it’s important to understand the five benefits of an aligned organization Benefit #1 – Ensures Everyone Works on the Right Things The first benefit of an aligned organization is that with a common goal for everyone to strive towards, the right things are worked on. Here’s the trick - you need make sure that everyone clearly understands the goal and the end game. The best way to accomplish this is to clearly communicate the strategy of the company. What are the three to five most important things you...

The Power of the Aligned Organization   When was the last time you rode in a car with wheels that were not properly aligned? Chances are it was a pretty rough ride. The car either pulled in one direction, making it hard work to keep it in your lane, or, it worked against itself as one tire pointed one way and another tire another way. The same thing can happen in our companies. The ride can be pretty bumpy, not to mention noisy, unless everyone is pointed in the same direction. That’s why it’s important to understand the five benefits of an aligned organization Benefit #1 – Ensures Everyone Works on the Right Things The first benefit of an aligned organization is that with a common goal for everyone to strive towards, the right things are worked on. Here’s the trick - you need make sure that everyone clearly understands the goal and the end game. The best way to accomplish this is to clearly communicate the strategy of the company. What are the three to five most important things you...

Four Responsibilities of Executives on Projects An executive has administrative or supervisory authority in an organization. That authority is used in a number of ways on projects. An executive is typically responsible for the Business Case of a project, which is used to determine whether the project should even be started. Once the project is approved they can impact the success of your project in four key areas. 1. Sponsorship and Funding Every project within a company starts with an idea. It’s hard for that idea to go much further without backing from the right person and some money to make it happen. An executive can provide the sponsorship and funding your project needs to get off the ground. They are responsible for signing off on the project charter, which describes the project, gives you the authority to manage and, most importantly, allocates the necessary funds to keep it alive. 2. Escalations and Resolution The second role an executive plays in your projects is to be the go...

Create Schedule Management Plan The Schedule Management Plan describes the process used to develop and manage the project schedule. Not all projects need a Schedule Management Plan, but if your project has a complex schedule that requires special handling, you may find this plan helpful. The components of the Schedule Management Plan can include: Roles and responsibilities. You can describe different roles and their ability to access the project schedule. Schedule owner. This is probably the project manager. Who can update? Normally the project manager, but on larger projects it could be more complex. For instance, a Project Administrator might make the initial schedule updates based on the project status reports and then provide this draft to the project manager for final updates. It is also possible that team members will update the status of their assigned activities and the project manager will perform final analysis after those updates. Who can read? Usually the s...

Mistake #5: Poor quality leads to poor results Like the other common project management mistakes we have looked at, problems with quality show up in a number of areas. For instance: Rework. Rework means that you have to fix a deliverable that you thought was complete. Rework is always caused by flaws in your quality management process. Higher operations costs. If errors are caught within the project, there is a cost associated with correct and rework. However, quality problems may surface after the solution is in operations. This causes operations (and maybe support) costs to increase.   Client dissatisfaction. If a solution is of poor quality, the customer will not be happy. If the customer has a choice, they may not buy from you again.  Missed deadlines and budget. Projects that build poor quality products tend to miss their deadlines and exceed their budget. This can cause the entire business case to be less attractive. Poor morale. No one likes to work on a project ...