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PROJECT PLANNING – Managerial Considerations (Part 1)

December 20, 2012 By

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…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 8) –Project Manager and Industry, Domain and/or Technical Experience

January 21, 2012 By

This McLaughlin and McLaughlin’s Project Professional’s post is the eighth in a series of discussions regarding current challenges with the staffing aspects of your project management team.   This post (like Parts 4, 5, 6 and 7) addresses acquiring the human resources (people) or staffing.  In this case, we focus on the project manager.  The Subject Series can be viewed here.

This, the fourth post on acquiring the project manager, addresses the relevance and/or importance of industry, domain and/or technical experience in a professional project manager.

According to Google, LinkedIn is the World’s Largest Professional Network.  As a member of several Discussion Groups that pertain to project management, I posed the following discussion:

In Project Program or Construction Management, how important is industry, technical or domain experience?

“When project management candidates or persons are being considered, selected, and engaged or hired, technical or domain experience is frequently an expressed consideration. Often, criteria for the individual includes industry, project-specific scope, technical or other experience with the content of the project are expressed requirements. There are differing views on this subject. What are your views?”

“PMI’s PMBOK discusses many activities and skills that are (in part or entirely) focused on the Project or Program Manager. All of these process requirements are managerial in nature, virtually none are technical or domain related.”

“In his authoritative book PROJECT MANAGEMENT, A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, Dr. Kerzner lists ten proficiencies for effective project management. Only one of the ten is Technical Expertise (assume same as domain expertise). Industry or similar project experience does not make the list.”

“Having managed many projects in many industries and with varying underlying technology, it is fair to say that opinions vary widely on this topic.”

“What is your perspective, opinion, experience or view?”

The comments are both thoughtful and revealing.  In the following, we have extracted typical (but not all) of these comments. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 7) – Acquiring the Project Manager

January 14, 2012 By

Industry, Domain and/or Technical Experience

This McLaughlin and McLaughlin’s Project Professional post is the seventh in a series of discussions regarding current challenges with the staffing aspects of your project management team.   This post (like Parts 4, 5 and 6) addresses acquiring the human resources (people) or staffing.  In this case, we focus on the project manager.  The Subject Series can be viewed here.

This, the third post on acquiring the project manager, will address the relevance and/or importance of such considerations as industry, domain and/or technical experience in a professional project manager.

So, what are the skill-sets that are needed in the year 2012 (and beyond) environment?  Let us drill down into or unpack the subject a little. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 6) – Acquiring the Project Manager

January 7, 2012 By

Selection Considerations

This McLaughlin and McLaughlin Project Professionals post is the sixth in a series of discussions regarding current challenges with the staffing aspects of your project management team.   This post (like Parts 4 and 5) addresses acquiring the human resources (people) or staffing.  In this case, we focus on acquisition of the project manager.  This acquisition of project manager resource will be the subject of several posts over the next several weeks.  The Subject Series can be viewed here.

This, the second post on acquiring the project manager, will address the selection criteria that are important in a professional project manager.  Before looking at sources for a project manager candidate, one needs to settle on the key characteristics (personal and other) that are needed in the specific project and the project execution strategy for your project. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 5) – Acquiring the Project Manager

January 1, 2012 By

Personal Characteristics and Attributes

This McLaughlin and McLaughlin’s Project Professional’s post is the fifth 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 4, our last post) addresses acquiring the human resources (people) or staffing.  In this case, we focus on acquisition of the project manager. This acquisition of project manager resources will be the subject of several posts over the next several weeks.

A key action, many believe that this selection/acquisition (the project manager) is the most important activity in staffing the project management team.

In past posts, the acquisition strategies have been discussed and evaluated.

This, the first post on acquiring the project manager, will address the personal characteristics and attributes that are important in a professional project manager.  Before looking at sources for a project manager candidate, one needs to settle on the key characteristics (personal and other) that are needed in the specific project and the project execution strategy for your project.  From past posts, it has been asserted that enterprise environmental factors are key inputs.  These factors influence the characteristics and attributes that are needed for a project within your organization.

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…]

Filed Under: Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

December 17, 2011 By

This McLaughlin & McLaughlin’s 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…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

December 10, 2011 By

This post is the third in McLaughlin & McLaughlin’s 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 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.

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:

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 2) – Planning

December 3, 2011 By

This post is the second in McLaughlin & McLaughlin’s 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…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

STAFFING YOUR PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM (Part 1) – Introduction

November 25, 2011 By

McLaughlin and McLaughlin’s 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:

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

RESOURCE CENTER UPGRADE

September 7, 2011 By

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…]

Filed Under: Claims, Featured, General, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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