PROJECT PLANNING – Managerial Considerations (Part 1)

Introduction

After a long period [since March 2012] of inactivity, McLaughlin and McLaughlin is pleased to resume posting activity in this blog.  Project Professionals is intended to offer advice and tips regarding various aspects of Program and Project Management.  For a statement of blog Objectives and Goals, please follow this link.

During this inactive period, M&M has been performing two time-consuming assignments.  One is program management support work on large Canadian oil sands investment/expansion program.  The second is a construction claim on an international power plant project.

In considering the general topic of project planning, consider the following question.  Why do so many projects experience serious negative issues, if not failure, when project planning has been pursued?  Often the answer is that the plans are defective or ignored.  Alignment, implementation and updating are essential features.  Good quality plans must be developed and implemented.  Often, this is not the case.

[Continued] [Read more…]

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 4) – Acquiring People from the Market

This McLaughlin & McLaughlins Project Professionals post is the fourth in a series of discussions regarding current challenges with the staffing aspects of your project management team.  The focus is on the managerial aspects of human resource planning and acquisition.  This post (like Part 3, our last post) addresses acquiring the human resources (people) or staffing.  While the planning may be the most important activity or action in the process, the challenge ultimately is obtaining the people to implement your intended execution strategy.

There are many acquisition strategies.  These acquisition strategies differ for various market conditions, organizational situations, project needs and other project variables.  Markets that are very active/hot [oil and gas, mining, natural resources, etc.] present unique challenges.  Skill-sets that are in high demand [project controls, planning, scheduling, technical, etc.] present further unique challenges.  The project Human Resource Plan must address these unique challenges.  Further, the project plan and schedule must allow the time to complete the acquisition process as well as the requisite training/indoctrination.  Finally, the project budget must realistically provide for the cost of these resources (often expensive non-employee persons) as well as the acquisition costs (e.g. recruiters).  If this planning is not in place, do not launch into project execution.

Please Remember Teams of people [not machines and not software] build projects. Consequently, if you cannot acquire the requisite staffing, you are not prepared to execute the project [at least as planned].

Please Remember This is a team, not a group of individuals.  Have you noticed that so many sports teams with superstars rarely win championships?  Further, have you noticed that championship teams have few, if any, superstars?  It is the project team, not the individual that must be staffed and developed.  As they say, there is no “I” in team. [Read more…]

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 3) – Acquiring People

This post is the third in McLaughlin & McLaughlins Project Professionals series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s efforts/environment associated with the human resource aspects of your project management team.  More specifically, we have titled the series STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM, and we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of human resource planning and acquisition.  This post focuses on acquiring the human resources (people) or staffing.  While the planning may be the most important activity or action in the process, the challenge ultimately is obtaining the people to implement your intended execution strategy.  There are many acquisition strategies.  These acquisition strategies differ for various market conditions, organizational situations, project needs and other project variables.

Please RememberTeams of people [not machines and not software] build projects.  Consequently, if you cannot acquire the requisite staffing, you are not prepared to execute the project [at least as planned].

Please Remember –This is a team, not a group of individuals.  Have you noticed that so many sports teams with superstars rarely win championships?  Further, have you noticed that championship teams have few, if any, superstars?  It is the project team, not the individual that must be staffed and developed.

In order to present this topic in a logical manner and with an industry-recognized lexicon, we are using the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Sources that are used in this post are:

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 2) – Planning

This post is the second in McLaughlin & McLaughlins Project Professionals Blog series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s efforts/environment associated with the human resource aspects of your project management team.  More specifically, we have titled the series STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM, and we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of human resource planning and acquisition.  This post focuses on planning the human resources or staffing.  In many respects, the planning is the most important activity or action in the process.  Proper and timely planning including documenting the plan will provide the roadmap for the path to success.  It will also tend to reveal problems and challenges before they become a problem.

In order to present this topic in a logical manner and with an industry-recognized lexicon, we are using the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Sources that are used in this post are:

Please Remember People [not machines and not software] build projects. [Read more…]

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 1) – Introduction

McLaughlin and McLaughlins Project Professional’s post is the first in a series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s efforts/environment associated with the human resource aspects of your project management team.  More specifically, we have titled the series STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM, and we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of human resource planning and acquisition.  This post is the introduction which frames out or structures the developing discussion.

Authoritative information and guidance regarding project management comes from many sources.  A few that may be obvious include:

In order to frame and organize this topic, we are using the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) .

Sources that are used in this post are:

MANAGING RISK OF DELAY – Schedule Updates and Progress Considerations (Part 10)

This post is the tenth in a series of discussions regarding various aspects of time management as it relates to the risk of delay.  This post addresses planning for and implementing progress measurement and schedule updates.

The challenge associated with managing time is intensified in the case of larger and more complex projects as well as fast-track and high technology projects.

In order to professionally manage time (and, therefore, risk of delay) the manager must have a time baseline [typically a Critical Path Method schedule and a Performance Measurement Baseline – please see earlier posts on these topics] and a method to recognize variations from the baseline.  In order to detect variances, the managerial team must have an effective process to measure progress data and update the schedule (or time model). [Read more…]

RESOURCE CENTER UPGRADE

The purpose of this post is to advise readers that the Project Professionals Resource Center feature or page has been upgraded.  Please visit this useful page and familiarize yourself with the content.  Please visit the Resource Links page which provides links to useful industry tools and resources.  The pages were derived from years of frustration searching for reliable, substantiated references.  So, the desires to share our choices are listed on the noted pages.

The Resource Center feature of this McLaughlin and McLaughlin [M&M] blog provides blog visitors with information and links to important and useful publications that relate to project management and dispute resolution in project work.

Recently, the Resource Center was upgraded to include several new publications, cite a new version of Mr. Pickavance’s book on delay and add some useful Resource Link updates. [Read more…]

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Lessons Learned (Part 7)

Planning the project properly, documenting the plan professionally and then implementing the plan successfully are likely the sources of most project success and failure outcomes.  Learning from the experiences of others is an effective method for skill set development.  Many organizations that use project management on an ongoing basis close out projects with a compilation of “lessons learned.”  These firms have found value in studying the issues that have emerged in the past.

As part of the planning process, a review of relevant lessons learned can be instructive as well as a “sanity check” or completeness evaluation regarding the adequacy and comprehensive nature of your Project Management Plan.

This post continues the focus on issues in planning and problems that have their source or root cause in planning. [Read more…]

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Planning Issues (Part 6)

Planning the project properly, documenting the plan professionally and then implementing the plan successfully are likely the source of most project success and failure outcomes.  While project planning is one of the most fundamental skill sets in project management, the requisite processes and actions are not well developed or successfully implemented.  There is value in the planning process and value in implementing a well documented plan.  This was discussed in the prior post in this Subject Series.

Learning from the experiences of others is an effective method for skill set development.  Many organizations that use project management on an ongoing basis close out projects with a compilation of “lessons learned.”  These firms have found value in studying the issues that have emerged in the past.

This and several following posts focus on issues in planning and problems that have their source or root cause in planning. [Read more…]

PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES – Project Management Plan (Part 5)

This post is the fifth in a series of discussions regarding current challenges being encountered in today’s project management.  More specifically, we have titled the series PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES, since we intend to focus heavily on the managerial aspects of program / project management.  This post addresses the Project Management Plan [also known as Project Execution Plan, Project Plan and other titles].  The last post (Part 4) addressed the project planning process.

Authoritative information and guidance regarding project management comes from many sources.  A few that may be obvious include:

In order to frame and organize this topic, we are using the PMI Project Management Processes for a Project as presented in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

Many discussion groups and forums can be helpful.  These include AACE, PMI, LinkedIn and others. [Read more…]