A Project Manager may have 15 years of experience and have led successful projects around the globe in nearly every industry imaginable.  And to some degree, you can rest on those laurels.  But not really – and certainly not for very long.  In the project management game it’s all about what you’ve done lately and in terms of customer satisfaction, it’s all about who you’ve satisfied lately.  In reality, you’re only as good as your last customer thinks that you are.

So what does that mean?  Well, it means the project manager can never become complacent.  If you just finished a project that had some issues or failed for some reason, you must meet with your team and your customer and understand what went wrong.  If you just finished a successful project, then meet with your team and your customer and figure out what went so right.  Fully understand the customer’s satisfaction level, your executive management’s satisfaction level and understand what those determining factors for satisfaction are.

Stay on top

This probably sounds like a broken record, but there are a number of basic things you need to do to stay on top of your projects as you move along the Project Management Template process:

- Conduct regular status meetings on every project you’re managing.  Don’t just focus on the busy ones – or you’ll lose track of the easy ones!
- Communicate effectively.  Never take things for granted, never assume team members and customers already have a specific piece of information because if it didn’t come from you – the project manager – then you should assume they don’t know it.  Over communicate….they will ultimately appreciate it.
- Do what you say you will do.  Be consistent and be someone who your team members and your customer count on to follow through on actions.
- Follow a process and a schedule.  Try not to manage projects from the hip – even if things seem to be in disarray.  Customers get nervous when there doesn’t seem to be a process or a reason or a regular schedule.  Map out how the project is going to be run and stick to that process.  Customers and team members are much happier with a consistent Project Plan process to follow – they know what to expect next from you.

Lessons learned

Going back to what I touched on earlier – after the project you must identify what worked and what didn’t.  The best way to do that is through lessons learned sessions with your team and the customer.  Sit down, discuss the positives and negatives from the engagement and thoroughly document these things.  The information you can learn from these sessions is truly invaluable as you move on to your next project and it’s invaluable for others in your organization as well.

The company that brought you the Project Management Kit stocked with over 50 key Project Management Templates has just announced the release of its new Project Review Form for the initiation phase of a project.

Method123’s latest offering will allow the user create this critical document directed at the project sponsor to let them know what objectives have been met as the project moves toward the planning phase.

As part of an overall Project Management Methodology, when the project team has completed a specific phase of the project, a project review is conducted.  The general concept of the project review is to review the phase just completed – in this case the initiation phase – and check project progress.  The objectives of the specific phase are reviewed to see if they have been met as part of the project team’s effort and progress on the phase.

This type of review and oversight allows the project sponsor a level of control over the progress of the project.  It can help those making decisions on the project to know whether a phase is appropriately completed and that the project is ready to move on to the next phase.

“Our Project Review Form for the initiation phase of the project will allow the key decision makers to evaluate the project status and make the right decisions on moving forward,” says Jason Westland, CEO of Method123 Ltd.  “With this form in place and properly utilized, a company is ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks before allowing the project to move on into the project planning phase.”

By conducting a formal project management review and measuring the team’s progress on deliverables produced for the initiation phase, those overseeing the project can complete this Phase Review Form and present it to the project sponsor for review and approval.  This form ensures that the proper oversight has been performed and the key approvals are in place to allow the project to move forward.  Likewise, if objectives are still outstanding, then the form has the ability to duly note that and thus requiring further work before the project can move on to the planning phase.

Specifically, this form will help you capture:

- Whether the project is currently on schedule
- If the project is on target in terms of budget status
- If risks are being identified and managed against
- What issues have come up and what actions were taken
- How the project is handling scope changes

Method123’s Project Management Kit contains similar forms for the completion of the planning and execution phases as well so all bases are covered for your project management template needs.

“The forms and templates contained in the Project Management Kit are invaluable to a company’s project planning process.  They guide the Project Manager seamlessly through the completion of key project documents using built-in helps and tips along with detailed instructions,” states Westland.  “We’ve done our best to include some real-world examples in each form and template to make completing these documents as easy as possible.  Making project management easier is our top priority.”

What Your Team Doesn’t Know About the Project Budget Can Hurt You

On time and on budget project delivery is the goal of every project manager.  In fact, probably just about everything the experienced project manager does on their projects is geared toward that end goal.  And budget management is a crucial part of any company’s overall project management template tool kit.

Let’s look at reality.  Some companies have us fill out our timesheets by late Friday afternoon or worse yet. Monday morning for the entire week.  We’re supposed to keep track daily of the work we do and allocate our hours accordingly, but few of us do that.  Now, consider as project managers we’re managing maybe 5-6 projects at a time as part of our company’s project management portfolio.  And our resources on our teams are probably working on 3-4 different projects for 3-4 different project managers and may have some non-project work they’re doing for their direct manager, too.

As the week closes down and these very busy resources of ours on our projects are tallying up where they spent their time, do you think they will be able to have an accurate accounting of 100% of that time expended?  Doubtful.  They’ll be able to accurately document probably 30 or so hours and they rest will be guesswork.

Now consider this, if you are tracking your projects budget and hours very carefully and your team knows that and they are getting budget reports on the project every week, do you think they’ll toss ‘extra’ hours on your project?  No.  When they’re trying to figure out where to put that last 5-10 hours for the week – they’ll put those ‘grey’ hours on a project that no one is watching carefully.  It’s not dishonest, its just guesswork and they’re just trying to finish off a mindless timekeeping task that they don’t consider to be important.  So the project manager MUST consider it to be important.

Summary

Budget management is critical to successful Online Project Management.  Always keep your team members mindful of what work is expected of them weekly and how much time you think it’s going to take.  Forecast their work and go over it with them and adjust accordingly.  If they know you’re tracking it well then you won’t be the project manager who’s projects get the ‘grey’ hours charged to it.  And an extra 2-3 hours every week adds up fast – and can easily be the difference between finishing on budget or going well over budget.

Method123 has added another powerful Project Management Template to their Project Management Kit offering by releasing their latest template – the Resource Plan.

Designed to walk the user through the steps of planning all necessary resources for the project, this tool will become a critical piece of your company’s Project Management Methodology and practice.

“The upfront project planning process is key to project success,” states Jason Westland, CEO of Online Project Management leader Method123.  “No project manager wants to start an engagement short on resources.  By completing the key information in this template, the project manager can easily identify and document his needs for all types of resources that will be required on the project.”

Method123 is fast becoming a leader in the online project management marketplace.  With sales worldwide of over 1 million Project Management Kits, Method123’s place as a leader in this niche is set.  As with its other template offerings, this Resource Plan template is stocked full of the necessary help screens, sample sections and tips to make resource planning a snap for even the newest project manager.

The Resource Plan template will help the user determine:

- All types of resource positions required on the project
- Responsibilities and roles for each position
- Quantities of resources needed
- Labor hours estimated for each resource type
- What equipment types and quantities will be required
- What materials will need to be purchased for use on the project

Resource planning can be a mundane task and is often overlooked during the Project Planning process leaving projects understaffed or behind schedule due to resource issues.  Method123’s easy to use Resource Plan template will guide the user seamlessly through the process of identifying all people, equipment, and materials resources that will be required on the project.

As always, Method123 has included helpful tips and hints along with detailed instructions for completing the planning document.  It also contains real-life sample information to help the user successfully complete the information.

Once completed, the output from this template gives the project manager the documentation necessary to gain project sponsor signoff on the resource plan and get the project team ready to kickoff the project.

“By using our Resource Planning template, the project manager will know when to onboard each resource ensuring the most efficient use of project budget and effort,” says Westland.  “Adding resources too early or too late can be detrimental to the overall budget and timeline of the project.  Our planning tool takes the guesswork out of that onboarding process for the project manager.  It will become an essential project management template for the project manager.”

Using Method123’s Resource Plan template allows the project manager to create detailed schedules identifying the utilization of each resource throughout the project.  This is invaluable when sharing resources with other projects allowing for the most efficient usage possible of all your project resources.  It will help you know your project resources will be ready when you need them.

For more information on this and all of Method123’s product offerings, please visit their website at method123.com.

Let’s assume that you are a hiring manager, you have a Project Management Methodology in place in your organization, and you’re looking to hire one or more project managers to staff the PMO.  What characteristics do you look for?  What criteria do you have for success in a project manager?

Is it PMP certification?  That’s a start, but it’s really only a measurement of success on a test and documentation of some experience and training.  It’s not a measurement of how someone has really performed managing a team, a customer, and a project.  So what do you look for?  There’s really no crystal ball, so you have to go with a few characteristics – none of which can really be verified in a normal job interview.

Let’s look at what I consider to be a few characteristics of a successful project manager:

- Effective communicator.  Communication may be the single most effective tool that the project manager has at his disposal.  Depending on the organization’s project management practices, there are some formal communication paths that have to happen – often laid out in a formal Communication Plan for the customer.  Status meetings, status reports, delivery of revised project schedules, etc.  But just as important are the informal communication methods – adhoc calls with the team and customer, emails, instant messaging, in-person discussions.  Effective and thorough communication is a must for the project manager to keep his team and customer up-to-date on what’s happening on the project.
- Organized manager.  The Project Manager must be organized.  The team and the customer need to be able to count on the project manager to provide the regular updates and deliverables that enable both sides to stay on track during the engagement.  A disorganized project manager will have a very hard time managing a project schedule and budget and keeping things moving forward productively.
- Confident leader.  Confidence is important for the project manager.  Leading skilled resources isn’t always easy, and if you’re always questioning your own abilities, you won’t be able to confidently lead others.  Project management is all about leadership.  ‘Fake it till you make it’ if you have to, but remain confident and in charge.  The team WILL follow.
- Good listener.  Your team and customer are important – and so is what they say.  Listen effectively during both formal and informal communication opportunities because key status information is relayed during those times.  Stay on top so your team knows you’re paying attention.
- Strategic problem solver.  Problems always arise – know how to react in critical situations.  Remain calm and have a few go-to contacts within the organization.  Don’t be afraid to look for help from your team and outside resources, but above all remain confident and in charge.

These are just a few characteristics – there are many others that likely go into the makings of a good project manager.  Look at what you consider to be your strengths and see if you think those strengths help to make you a more effective manager of project resources.  And keep working on the areas that you think are lacking….we all have room for improvement.

Method123 announces the release of their new Financial Planning template

Industry leader Method123 announced the release of another powerful template in their Project Management Template Kit – the Financial Plan template.

In terms of Project Management Templates, the Financial Plan is a tool used to identify everything that is expected to be expended in terms of dollars on a project.  According to Method123, it’s basically your spending forecast for the project.  The Financial Plan is used to layout every type of expense that is expected to be incurred on the project like labor hours, materials, equipment, rentals, leases, and any other overhead and administrative costs.  Once everything is rolled up together, this final total becomes the budget for the entire project.

“The financial plan is a very critical piece to the overall
project planning puzzle,” states Jason Westland, CEO of Method123 Ltd.  “Without the financial plan, there would be no detailed budget for the project manager to manage against.  Our template helps the project manager put together a very comprehensive financial plan for the project in half the time of other solutions.”

Method123 has sold more than 1 million units of its Project Management Kit worldwide and this new Financial Planning template is sure to boost demand once again.  Already established as an industry leader, Method123’s offering keep getting stronger with the release of every new template. It is designed to make the lives of project managers everywhere much easier.

With the Financial Plan template, the project manager can identify:

•    Labor costs that will be incurred and when
•    Equipment costs that will hit the project and when those will occur
•    Materials that need to be purchased and a proposed schedule
•    Any leases or rentals that will be necessary and a proposed schedule
•    Any additional planned overhead or administrative costs
•    Contingency financial planning for risks and issues that may arise

Another feature that is common to Method123’s templates is the existence of real-world data and examples that will help the user successfully complete the required sections.  Project Managers will find that this full-featured Financial Plan template really sets up everything they need to create a budget for the entire project.

“Like all of our project management templates, the Financial Plan template comes with comprehensive helps and tips as well as detailed instructions,” says Westland.  “The template steps the user smoothly through the process of actually drawing up a detailed project budget.  When it’s completed, the project manager has as much detail as possible to manage all tasks of the project against.”

“At Method123, we’re always striving to make the life of the busy project manager a little easier.  With the release of every new template, we hope we’re doing just that,” says Westland.  “I think we’ve really hit the nail on the head with this one.  We asked real life project managers what they needed and I think we’ve produced it with this template.”

For more information about the Financial Plan template and all of Method123’s other offerings including the Project Management Kit, please visit their website at Method123.com.

If all of our projects just smoothly followed our project schedule we’d have it made.  No issues, no budget overruns, no cranky customers, no scope changes.  But that’s not the case.  There are always going be some issues, the budget never manages itself, the customer always has a few demands, and scope is usually a challenge to manage and keep in check.

What I haven’t touched on yet is project risk.  What is risk in terms of Online Project Management?  One definition goes like this…

“A possible event that could endanger the planned course or goals of the project.”

Do we need to manage for these risks, these ‘possible’ events that may or may not happen?  Or can we just leave things to chance and worry about them if and when they happen?  You can, but the impact may be so great and blindside you so badly that the project can get knocked way off course or could come to a complete halt.

As part of a sound and solid Project Management Template process, it is far better to plan for risk and look for ways to avoid a specific risk even happening or ways to work through an risk event should it actually happen.  Basically, every company with a formalized project management methodology should have a risk management component.

Risk items are likely to come up on nearly every project you manage.  Training yourself to recognize potential risks as they arise is a critical piece of your overall project management process and something you and your project team need to work very hard with the customer to do well.

Sometimes you have to think out-of-the box – think in terms of what-if scenarios.  And as you identify potential risks associated with tasks and milestones in your Project Plan, document them and revisit them every week with your team and your customer.  Above all, be proactive.  Approaching risks in this manner will help you to better recognize the event should it occur and be much better prepared to deal with it.  And in the long run that means your project has a far greater chance for success.

New comprehensive Quality Plan template release announced by Method123

Method123 has just announced the release a new full-featured Quality Plan template as part of their overall Project Management Kit product offering.

Method123’s Project Management Kit provides the project manager and team with over 50 Project Management Templates.  The addition of this new Quality Plan template will definitely strengthen this industry leading software offering from Method123.

The act of creating Quality Assurance Plans and Quality Control Plans is a critical piece of the overall project management tempaltes for any organization.  However, it is an often-overlooked step in the Project Planning process.

Creating these plans at the beginning of the project enables the project manager and team to set quality criteria for the project that will be acceptable to the customer.  These plans are put in place to set guidelines for managing quality, how to measure and audit quality, and how to deal with quality issues when they arise.  Quality expectations of deliverables on the project are a major input to these plans and must be spelled out in detail so the project team knows how best to go about meeting customer expectations and getting deliverable signoff.

“Quality plans are often an afterthought on projects meaning when quality questions arise, there’s no plan in place on how to deal with them,” says Jason Westland, CEO of Online Project Management template leader Method123 Ltd.  “Every project has deliverables.  The project manager and the customer must layout how to measure quality on those deliverables so that they can be formally accepted.  Our full-featured template will guide the project manager through the paces of putting together these valuable plans for their projects.”

Like all the templates in their Project Management Kit, the Quality Plan contains detailed instructions, real-life sample information to help the user create meaningful sections of the document, and lots of tips and helps throughout to make production of the plan a breeze.

With Method123’s template, the project manager can create a Quality Plan to:

•    Document the customer’s requirements
•    Identify the project deliverables
•    Create quality goals and standards for each deliverable
•    Get agreement from the customer on acceptable deliverable quality criteria
•    Gain final signoff on deliverables based on the criteria in the document

“Getting to the end of a project phase and handing a deliverable to the customer is a major milestone.  However, realizing you have no set acceptance criteria in place for that deliverable can be a major problem,” says Westland.  “I’ve seen projects flounder for weeks over a single deliverable because acceptance criteria was never clearly defined.”

By using Method123’s Quality Plan template, that will never be a problem.  Details on each deliverable, the acceptance criteria specific to that deliverable, and how to handle questions and issues with deliverable quality and acceptance is all defined at the beginning of the project when the project manager uses this template.  Think of it as a roadmap to deliverable acceptance.  Once in place, both the project manager and the customer have the necessary policies in place to move forward.

For information on the Quality Plan template as well as all the templates contained in Method123’s Project Management Kit, please visit their site at Method123.com.