1.4 Managing the Project Management Life Cycle

Now, take a moment and ask, “Which company would I identify as a go-to example for great project management results?” Did you come up with Apple, or a company with a similar track record? Apple exemplifies fantastic project management. Time and time again, Apple delivers remarkable hit products that perform to promise—on time and at cost. What makes the difference between Apple and our earlier example of Healthcare.gov? You know the answer: Good project management skills. Consider this statistic: 89% of high-performing companies value project management.

So, what does good project management look like? A Google search will yield different opinions, but almost everyone focuses on four core behaviors: Project initiating, planning, delivery, and closure (see Figure 1.3). Let’s take a closer look.

Project Initiation

Have you ever started a project that you didn’t finish? Almost everyone can answer this question, “Yes.” The question is, “Why didn’t you finish?” Maybe you ran out of time. Perhaps you didn’t have all the necessary resources. And it’s possible that, part way in, you realized the project wasn’t really worth doing. A well-run project initiation will help you avoid all these problems. Simply put, project initiation enables you to accurately assess a project’s value and viability. Time invested in initiation will pay big dividends.

Initiation is powerful because it creates clarity. One output of initiation is a charter, which describes the 5Ws: Why, Win, Who, What, and Woops (see Figure 1.4). Let’s review each of these 5Ws.

Why

A compelling “why” is critical to project success. Why, you ask? You need to be able to convince people it is better to invest in your project instead of doing something else. Simply put, you need to communicate WIIFTOP (what’s in it for the other person). If you don’t, you won’t achieve the commitment needed for success. If you do your homework and build a solid business case, you will be in position to launch your project successfully. If you can’t build a strong business case, you should walk away from the project, at least until you can build a persuasive business case. A powerful why boosts your passion and gives other people the motivation to help you deliver.

Win

Smart colleagues will ask you, “How will we know if the project is a success?” In fact, this is a great interview question you want to ask when you are on the job market. In project management, answering this question requires that you define the three elements of the project management triangle: Scope, Schedule, and Budget (see Figure 1.5).

• Scope. Scope defines value—i.e., what does your project look like and what value will the completed project deliver?

• Schedule. Schedule refers to when the project will be completed.

• Budget. Budget answers the question, “How much will it cost?”

You will often find that you can’t change one without impacting the other two. Increasing scope, for instance, typically pushes out the schedule and increases costs. Every new feature you add to your custom dream home increases costs and delays completion. Yet, people consistently add many upgrades, bumping the cost of a custom build by about 10%.

Who

If you are working on a project complex enough to require careful planning, you will need help to get it done. The question is, “Who should you involve in the project?” You might also ask, “Who will the project affect—for good or bad?” For instance, if you start a new business, you will have partners and employees. But launching a new business will also affect friends and family as you work long and unusual hours. Your job: Identify these people and get their input as you put together your project charter. They will enable you to identify the help you need from other people (e.g., time, expertise, money, emotional support).

What

You’ve heard the saying, “Begin with the end in mind.” This saying holds true in project management. Ask, “What will your successfully completed project look like?” Projects drag on when you don’t define what the end looks like. One more thought: Scope refers to a high-level overview of your deliverables, “what” here refers to specific tangibles you must complete. Be sure to get specific.

Woops

As you begin your project, plan on something going wrong. It always does. The question is, “What could go wrong in your project?” Seek advice from informed colleagues. Ask them to help you clarify your assumptions. Doing so will help you be realistic as you build your schedule and estimate your costs. Don’t rely on “best-case” scenarios. If you identify the risks up front and put contingency plans in place, the odds of project success go up.

The bottom line: Answering the questions associated with the 5Ws will help you set and communicate clear expectations. In project management, preparation precedes power.

Project Planning

Have you ever pulled an all-nighter to finish a class project? Almost everyone has. Do you remember why you had to pull that all-nighter? Do either of the following sound familiar?

• Wait Until the Last Minute. Did you know that 85–95% of students wait until the last minute to do class projects?

• Practiced Procrastination. Would you believe that over half of all students report that they regularly procrastinate their studies?

So, why do you wait until the last minute to do things? Research reveals that the most common causes are that you lack motivation and/or you feel overwhelmed. What does this mean? If you lack motivation, you need a more powerful “why.” If the project looks daunting, you need to make the project look doable! You do this by breaking a project down into smaller, easier-to-complete tasks. This is the goal of project planning. By the way, a lack of planning is the #1 reason corporate projects fail.

A project plan describes in detail how and when you will achieve your project’s objectives. You use a project plan to manage and control a project. A well-designed plan shows the major milestones, resources, and activities needed to complete your project. Let’s walk through the four-step process—decompose, delegate, schedule, and evaluate—you will use to create your project plan (see Figure 1.6).

Decompose

To make a big project doable, you want to break it down into bite-size chunks. This process is called decomposition. It’s kind of like eating the proverbial elephant—you do it one bite at a time. You start by asking, “What are the logical components or pieces of the project?” Note that these are things (nouns), not actions (verbs). Make sure that if you complete each task, 100% of the project will be complete.

If you need to, you can break down each component into even smaller pieces (i.e., lower-level sub-deliverables). Your goal: Create a list of natural tasks that are easily manageable. We call these tasks “work packages.” By the way, if your work packages can be completed in less than a day, you’ve probably gone too far. If they take more than two weeks, you want to look for additional opportunities to break the project down.

For example, consider planning for your wedding—a daunting task. Let’s break down one sub-deliverable, the pre-wedding event. You might identify three sub-deliverables:

1. The rehearsal

2. The bridal shower

3. Guest accommodations

Each of these tasks involves multiple steps or activities. Let’s focus on the rehearsal, which typically includes a dinner and practicing the actual ceremony. The dinner, in turn, involves at least three activities: food catering, decorations, and entertainment. You’ve probably reached a point where each work package is easily manageable. You need to decompose each major wedding activity into its bite-size work packages.

Delegate

As you decompose a project, you’ll probably realize that you need help from other people. Ask yourself, “What should I do? What can someone else do better?” Delegation comes down to expertise and resources (primarily time). If you get the right people involved, giving them the roles and responsibilities, your probability of success goes up.

Once you decide who is responsible for each work package, you can start to focus on the individual activities (verbs) that you must get done to complete each work package. Each package owner should probably identify these individual activities or actions. Let’s do this for the wedding example. Imagine you have a tight budget. To save money, you . . .

• Ask your artsy soon-to-be mother-in-law to be responsible for the decorations.

• Invite your cousin Jesse, a weekend disk jockey, to handle the music and entertainment.

• Decide to take care of the catering yourself—after all, you are a foodie.

Proceeding to the next step, you list the activities you need to manage to make sure the food is just right: Interview caterers, check references, select linen package, select menu items, and sign contract. As the overall project manager, you also ask your mother-in-law and cousin Jesse to send you their activity lists. If their activity lists look complete, you can focus on timing.

Schedule

To make sure everything is done on time, you need to identify precedence relationships. In other words, ask, “What activities need to be done before other activities can begin?” This is a little bit like sorting a deck of cards into suits—the cards must be put in the right order (1, 2, 3, . . . Jack, Queen, King) before you can proceed. Scheduling is a two-step process.

1. Defining Dependencies. Most projects involve a variety of activities, some of which are dependent on each other. That is, they must take place in a logical sequence. Imagine you are baking cookies. You can’t mix the batter until you buy the ingredients. And you can’t bake the cookie until you mix the batter.

   You sort the activities for each work package by making pairwise comparisons, asking, “Does this need to be done before that?” Some tasks don’t belong to a given sequence. They can be done at the same time (that is, in parallel).

2. Estimating Durations. After you place activities in the right sequence, you need to estimate how long each activity will take to complete. You begin with the first activity in the sequence. How long the activity takes to perform (its duration) defines its completion time, which will be the start time for the next activity. You can make the results visible using a precedence diagram or a Gantt chart. Once you schedule all sequential and parallel activities, you can estimate the start, duration, and completion time for each work package.

Let’s return to the wedding example. Table 1.4 shows the sequence and durations for the key activities in the “food” work package.

Let’s reiterate a key point: The start time of each activity is based on the finish time of the activities on which it depends, except, of course, for activities that can be completed in parallel. In this case, you can select the linen package and menu items at the same time. You can perform these activities as soon as you select the caterer.

Evaluate

Performance matters! So, as you plan to present your project for approval, make sure you can make your case in the areas that senior managers care about—specifically, cost/budget, schedule, and scope. Don’t be surprised if the first question you hear is, “How much will it cost?” If you’ve done a good job of decomposing your project into work packages and delegating them to knowledge managers, you should be able to add up the cost of each work package and come up with an accurate estimate.

One output of your internal evaluation is a planning summary. In addition to costs and schedule, your panning summary should include key milestones. Defining key milestones will help you keep the project on target or warn you that something has gone wrong. What do you do if your schedule slips or your costs rise unexpectedly? Consider the following.

1. Re-analyze Work Packages. Ask, “Could the work packages be done differently?” For example, can you remove any unnecessary steps. Maybe you can substitute technology for labor. Maybe you can use a different material. Maybe three quality checks instead of six will get the job done. Be creative and explore all your options.

2. Consider the Tradeoffs. If you can’t get back on track by tweaking the work packages, you need to evaluate the tradeoffs among budget, schedule, and scope. If you need to speed up the project, you might hire more people or employ a faster machine, better software, or expedited shipping. Your budget will go up, but the added speed may be worth it.

3. Communicate. As you consider changes to budget, schedule, or scope, keep all stakeholders informed. Their feedback will help you determine if your proposed changes are acceptable and help you meet your end goals.

To summarize, project planning reduces procrastination. More importantly, project planning provides a roadmap and a realistic schedule. Your goal: Get the project done in scope, on time, and within budget. Once the plan is completed, you can finally start doing something!

Project Delivery

How would you feel if someone promised to give you $20,000 as a gift? How would your feelings change if they only gave you $10,000? You would probably still be grateful, but you would also be disappointed. Why? Answer: Because you expected more. Expectations are powerful. Once set, anything that falls short is disappointing. Never forget this reality. Perceptions of your performance as a project manager hinge on how well you deliver to promises made in the initiating and planning phases. To avoid broken promises, you need to do three things: Monitor, control, and communicate. Let’s take a look.

Project Monitoring

To avoid unpleasant surprises, you need to consistently compare your project’s progress to the project plan. Are you hitting major milestones on schedule and within budget? Periodic cadence calls (often weekly) can help you stay on track. What is a cadence call? A cadence call is a meeting where team members touch base to share schedule, budget, and other performance updates for their work packages. The goal: Identify variances, that is, deviations from the plan. The sooner you identify “variances,” the more options you have to find a fix. Early discovery also reduces the costs to get back on track. The cadence call also initiates action so you can proactively allocate resources and solve problems—two keys to getting projects back on track.

Project Control

When you hear the word control, how do you react? Do you equate control with authority or power? Does control connote being told what to do or the loss of freedom? In project management, control means something very different. You might think of “control” as the process of steering a ship. As the project manager, your job is to control the voyage so that the project ship stays on course and safely reaches its desired harbor on time and within budget.

Now, let’s ask another question: What is the secret to being a great project navigator? Answer: Beyond quick identification of variances, you need to be able to assess each variance, deciding which require action and which can be ignored. How can you tell if a variance should trigger a course correction? Answer: If the variance places key project objectives in jeopardy, you need to act.

Project Communication

Effective delivery requires effective communication. In fact, guess what project management’s most important success factor is. You got it: Effective communication. Poor communication, believe it or not, is to blame for half of all unsuccessful projects. Why is communication so important, yet so challenging? Answer: Communication plays a key role in both monitoring and controlling. Equally important, projects are complex. They involve a lot of moving parts, and your circumstances are constantly changing. You need to take the following into account.

• Who needs to be in the loop?

• How frequently should you communicate with each stakeholder?

• How much—and what kind of—detail needs to be shared at each stage of the process?

• What type of communication is needed (e.g., face-to-face, group, or linked planning systems)?

Project management software helps inform your weekly cadence calls so that you stay up to date on project status, including on how well course corrections are working.

What’s your key takeaway? Project initiation and project planning are the first two phases of ready, set, go! But project delivery is far more challenging than just clicking a “go” button or telling others to “go do it.” Constant monitoring, frequent course corrections, and clear communication help you steer the ship to a safe and successful harbor.

Project Closure

Imagine this scenario. You are in a meeting with your boss, your project team, and representatives from your customer. Your customer congratulates you on delivering to promise. Your boss praises you for hitting key metrics. You thank everyone for their efforts (because that’s what a good project manager does). After celebrating with your team, you go back to your office. As you look at the project documents posted to your walls, you ask, “Now, what?” You might be tempted to move on to the next project. But you know better. You still need to work through project closure, which consists of two processes: Administrative close-out and post-implementation review.

Administrative Close-out

Administrative close-out is a final “clean-up.” At many companies, you work through a checklist called the Project Closure Report. As with all checklists, this document helps make sure you don’t forget anything. Remember, the devil is in the details (e.g., risks, finances, assets, and documentation). For instance, you hand over final deliverables, including key documents, to the customer. You close out supplier contracts and release project members and other resources. The project isn’t officially closed until you dot every “i” and cross every “t.”

Post-Implementation Review

Now, a question: Have you ever made the same mistake over and over? Most of us are guilty of this behavior. Now, consider an oft-repeated warning: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Psychology research suggests that the best way to break out of this counterproductive routine is to . . .

• clearly identify the mistake you keep making

• understand its negative effect on you

• figure out why you keep making that mistake

• develop a mechanism to defend against that mistake.

Sadly, repeating mistakes is prevalent in project management. That’s why you need to perform a post-implementation review (aka, a blameless autopsy). In your review, you interview or survey key stakeholders, asking the following questions:

• What went wrong?

• What went right?

• What would you do differently if you ran the same project again?

• What have you learned from the project?

• What hindered your progress during the project?

• What helped you reach the deadlines easier during the project?

For each of these questions, be sure to look at the following.

To get the most out of a blameless autopsy, experienced project managers do the following.

• Stay Customer-focused. You execute a project to provide value to an internal or external customer. Be sure to listen carefully to customers.

• Stay Objective. Describe what has happened in unbiased terms. Focus on improvements.

• Consider Positives and Negatives. No project is ever perfect; find out what went wrong.

• Use Hindsight to Your Advantage. Find ways to avoid the “unknowns” (now known) that increased implementation risks.

• Focus on the Future. Avoid blame. Your goal is to get better going forward.

• Demand Candidness. You need open and honest feedback. That means you need to make sure people are rewarded for candor—even if it’s not popular.

• Document Results. Document the proven path to success—as well as the pitfalls you encountered on the journey.