cocktail napkin project management

8/8/2019 Cocktail Napkin Project Management

1/20

JanetBurns,PMP

July20,

2009


2/20

Agenda Howitallbegan

WhyuseCNPM?

Whatdoesitlooklike?

Howcan

you

make

it

work

for

you?

Afewsamples

Q&A


3/20

TheBeginning TryingtosetupaPMOattheNewYorkTimes

company: Acombinationofaninformal,relationshipbased

cultureand.

Complexmethodologies

with

20pagechartertemplates

4daytrainingsessions

Lots

of

must

do,

or

else Rigidity

Onesizefitsallprojects

Notrainingforprojectstakeholders


4/20

Whatwaswrong? Peoplefeltinadequate

PMsdidnotaskquestions,blindlytriedtofollowalongsinceitwasseniormanagementinitiative(so

support

from

the

top

is

not

ALL

you

need) TurnofffromthePMlingo wasnotrelateabletoall

projectstakeholders

Projectswere

too

diverse

and

the

process

did

not

always apply


5/20

NotProcessFriendly???? Creative

organizations

Smallcompanies

Informalorganizations

Familyrunorganizations

Nonprofits

Academic

organizations


6/20

AndsoCNPMwasborn Wehadtofindsomethingtogetpeopleinterested

Neededagreatlysimplifiedapproachtoprojectmanagementmethodology

Putthe

focus

on

core

concepts

Short,simple,flexible,tailored,custom,evendisposable

IntroducedCNPMonInternationalProjectManagementday,November2005


7/20

YouhavetoworkwithinthecultureYouneverchangesomethingbyfightingtheexistingreality.Tochangesomething,buildanewmodel

that

makes

the

existing

model

obsolete

BuckminsterFuller


8/20

TheoryofCNPM Thetermbackofanapkin,orsometimesbackofan

enveloperefers

to

the

act

of

drawing

up

an

idea

on

a

napkin,mostlikelyinaninformalsetting.

Itcanalsobereadastakingshortcuts onlytakingenough

time

to

document

something

important

on

the

back

of

a

napkin.

Therealitytodayisthatweallhavelesstimetoexecuteprojects,andthoseofuschargedwithsellingtheconceptof

project

management

have

very

minimal

time

to

sell

our

beliefs.

Hence,theneedtochooseonlythekeyingredients,such

thatour

process

will

fit

on

the

back

of

acocktail

napkin.


9/20

Fineprint Thisisnottosaythatanorganizationcannotembrace

thefull

complement

of

project

management

processes

It

just

has

to

happen

in

due

course,

depending

on

the

companyculture,willingnesstochange,andotherdecisiondrivers

The

cocktail

napkin

concept

provides

a

simple

way

to

begin sellingprojectmanagementconcepts. Thekeyistofocusonthebasicneedswithoutoverwhelming

your

audience

with

too

much

process

and

complexity.


10/20

Howtocreateyourcocktailnapkin

TheCocktailNapkinProcess Asyousiftthroughthemassofprojectmanagement

methodologiesandphilosophies,wehavetoasksomequestions:

Whatarethekeytoolstodriveprojectsuccess

Whatdoesmyorganizationvalue?

WhatinformationmustIhavetounderstandmyproject?

HowcanImaketheinformationusabletoALLprojectstakeholders?

WhatistheCOREofprojectmanagement?


11/20

Heresagoodstart.. Thinkingaboutthecorebringsupsomeproject

managementkeystones:

for

example,

the

triple

constrainttheory

Scope

CostTime


12/20

CNPMandthetripleconstraint Workingundertheassumptionthatmanagingtheelementsofthe

tripleconstraint

leads

to

successful

projects,

our

cocktail

napkin

shouldcontaintoolsforeachelement,including:

Scope Aprojectcharterdescribingbusinessneeds,projectrequirements,includingwhatisinandoutofscopeisasimpledirect

wayto

define

focus

Time AsPMswevebeentrainedtoworkwithprojectschedules,butasimpleschedule,focusingonmilestones,andnotnecessarilyneeding

a

sophisticated

scheduling

software

would

also

work Cost Abasicspreadsheettoassistinestimatingcostincludingthe

amountofresourcehourswewillneed,willgoalongwayinthecostmanagementeffort


13/20

MoreofthecoreAnother keystoneofprojectmanagementtoconsider is

communication some

say

project

management

is

90%

communication.

Thismeansthatapieceofourcocktailnapkinapproachshouldbe

asimple

process

for

continuous

communication

and

updates

of

ourprojectdocuments.

Thesimplicityofthedocumentsthemselvesshouldlendtomoreparticipation

from

project

team

members

and

sponsors,

thus

facilitatingcommunicationandcollaboration.

Examples: 1pagestatusreports(signal,notnoise)Short,

stand

up

project

meetings

Dashboards


14/20

SampleapplicationsofCNPM

PM

Roadmap

NY

Times

project

methodology

Onepage

project

charter

Statusreporttemplate

Milestonecharts

in

Excel

WBSworkshopsusingpostitnotes


15/20

Viacom/MTV

SimpleversionofaSDLC(SoftwareDevelopmentLife

Cycle) Onepagerequirementsdocumentfocusedonbusinessneeds

Onepagemonthlydashboardstatus

Golivetemplatefornewsoftwareintoproduction



16/20

LargeSixSigmaPrograminanacademicenvironment

3steps Define,Analyze,Recommend

One

page

charter,

eliminate

unnecessary

fields Simplebusinesscasetemplatetodocumentcostsavings

OnepagestatusreportonSharepoint

IssuestrackingonSharepoint



17/20

SoremembertheCNPMattributestoapply Makeitsimple

Tailor

it Makesureitisavailableindifferentsizesandcolors

Makeitreadilyavailableforallstakeholders

Makeit

disposable!


18/20

AndIfyou'renotfailingeverynowandagain,it'sasign

you'renot

doing

anything

very

innovative.

WoodyAllen


19/20

Afinalthought.Justbecausesomethingistraditiondoesn'tmakeit

right.AnthonyJ.D'Angelo
http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/anthony_j._d'angelo/http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/anthony_j._d'angelo/http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/anthony_j._d'angelo/http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/anthony_j._d'angelo/http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/anthony_j._d'angelo/http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/anthony_j._d'angelo/


20/20

Thankyou!!!

JanetBurns,PMP

[email protected]

6092138975
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

cocktail napkin project management

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