Getting it doneScope Control, Client Management, and Successful Delivery#dpm2016@dsayswhat

Hi. Im Darren.#dpm2016@dsayswhat

Who are you?

Show of hands - Agency? In-house? Full-time, Any Part-time PMs?How long have you been PMing? 1, 3, 5, 10. Work with other PMs?Backgrounds: Design, development, other?Projects: web, marketing/ads, seo, other?

Todays conversation

Its a conversation - going to try and solicit feedback and points of discussion from you. Post its, conversations, etc.Introduce yourself to the 3-5 folks around you. Tell them who you are, what you do, how long youve been doing it, etc.

Cardinal Virtues of a PM

Be Curious

You have to be ready to learn new stuff, try it all out, and luckily cats have 9 lives, cause being curious sometimes has complications New tools (downside) new technologies (downside), New processes (downside) New clients and business verticals (downside)

Cover your team

Tools, not Documents

The difference between a document and a tool is YOU. Make it useful, dont file it.

Be a (Situational) Pessimist

Pessimism in general is bad. Appropriately applied, it keeps you safe.Developers and designers need a can-do attitude. PMs need to watch for problems and plan for them, communicate early. Pessimism protects your team.

Scream Real Loud

The word of the day is just

Communication

Overcommunicate

- esp re: expectations, and processes for those unfamiliar with your work.

Make the implicit explicit

Double-check everything

Be first to report bad news

Bring problems with a plan

Send weekly updates

Successful Delivery

At first, this is about scope control or client management - want to acknowledge there is more to successful delivery than that. So before we get into the bulk of our conversation, its worth a look at the larger picture

A project is successful when

Darrens definition of successEveryone gets what they want. Mostly.

Some success factorsOn timeOn budgetQualityClient satisfactionTeam moralePersonal satisfaction

RightThingTimePriceHappyClient TeamBossYou

Wait. Who are we kidding?

Factors you cant control are everywhere.Who has had a project fail MASSIVELY? Those of you who are failing right now? Look around the room

Where are we working from?

Successful deliveryStakeholders &PoliticsScope ControlCommunicationBoundariesValues

tactics and tools, which are situational. These all cross in various ways, very tangled and dependent on each other.

INSPIRE & EMPOWERBE HUMANKICK ASSINVENT & INNOVATEHAVE FUNCOLLABORATE OPENLY

Success looks different from project to project

What is the life-cycle of a successful project?

Successful projects tend to have a shape - certain characteristics that happen every time.

What are your personal warning signs when your project is going off the rails?Small groups

MiddleIncreased productivityEarly feedbackScope adjustmentsLate

Support and bug fixesTriage and prioritizationFinal testing Delivery

UncertaintyDiscoveryLow ProductivityEarly

Therefore, you should be worried when these transitions dont happen by the middle / end of the project.

Team doesnt hit their stride

Real content not available

No customer feedback

Inflexible scope/time/quality

Crash mode

Are we gonna be on time? Well, we have to be.

Moving too fast, too much to do before the deadline, without time to test, is a big red flag. Q: when to have the hard conversation. A: is as soon as you notice the problem.

When youre moving too fastStep back. Listen to your gut. Be honest. Fail early.Scream real loud. Dont sit on it.Let the client decide what kind of risk they can handleAdjust pace & timelines accordingly

Scope control

Scope often exceeds expectations

Bigger than what you agreed to Small group exercise:

Small groupsWhat challenges do you have with scope control?Wheres your pain points?What keeps happening?

Pain point, war story, maybe you and your group can turn that into two or three words and post it up here

Time $$ quality/scope. However, scope is an idea - an imaginary thing. Everyone guesses at it differently, specs and photoshop documents just hint at it. You need QCs

Quantifiable ConstraintsGet your sales team (or boss) to protect youManage to those limits - know your SOWTalk about those limits with your team all the time.Clients need to own these limits too.

How many [things, iterations, weeks]. usually established up front sales process

When you dont have QCsFixed bid: uh oh!Agile/hourly/in-house: be carefulDo your best to write it all down. Tool: Scope definition document with clearly defined limitsStart discussing and documenting changes to scope now.Make friends with your sales team and dont let it happen again.

If you lack QCs, do what you can to document current agreements. Get it out of your head. But when scope starts to creep, and the requests come in >

Never agree to a request right away.

Clients need things - NO isnt collaborative. There is a way for them to get what they want but there are tradeoffs - Heres the way to keep it positive

Affirm the value of the request by saying Yes, and

Improv - keep the vibe positive. I see business value here, AND [express implication of request]

Check with your team

What will it take to satisfy this request - can it be done? When can it be done? Will it sink the boat?

Estimate and negotiate

Whats the impact to work that youre already committed to?Whats the trade-off? More money & more time? Less scope elsewhere?

Document the change and communicate the impact.

I, state your name, solemnly swearthat when work is requested in excess of the quantities specified by the SOW, or is not covered in the SOW

I will neither agree to it nor allow it to be undertaken without a change order.The Client Services Oath

I, state your name, solemnly swearthat when work is requested in excess of the quantities agreed to,or not explicitly covered in, the project planning document(s)

I will neither agree to it nor allow it to be undertaken without discussing the implications with everyone involved.The In-house PMs Oath

Does your team gold-plate their work?

Design > Dev.SubmariningCommand and control (boo) keep the timeline in front of people, and let them know where their work fits.

Gold-platingWatch for it:handoffs between design and devWhen someone is late delivering - submarining (out of sight, working too hard)Know your team, and whos prone to be idealisticTacticsCommand-and-control (boo)keep the timeline in front of people, and let them know where their work fits.

Customer interactions

Problem > Warning Signs > Consequences > Tactics > ToolsPMI is especially helpful here, as a bank of possible DOCUMENTS that you can turn into TOOLS.

Small groupsWhats your biggest challenge with your Customers?What do they DO?What DONT they do?

Reality sets in.Sometimes good enough has to be good enough.

When design or business needs vault past what can be technically done Solution: tech review of requirements and designs, and clear conversations about whats possible.

Hostile CustomersGet off my lawn!

Its hard to be tied to hostile stakeholders. Find your person within their org, do what you can, escalate where appropriate, have a frank, positive discussion thats focused on working together and moving forward.

Missing Customer Syndrome

Yeah Were gonna have to ask Bob about that.

Warning signs: That name I keep hearing that namePeople obviously arent empowered to decide thingsAsk: Is there anyone who can zoom in here and blow up our process?

RACI MatrixResponsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed

TacticsUse your RACI matrix as a toolMake your concerns knownAsk for that person to join your meetingsReview with them early and oftenLeave room for sudden changes in direction

Decisions arent getting made

Indecisive CustomersMaybe thats not your problem?Tactic: Shake it upchange up meeting participantschange your level of involvement Tool: Decision log, with dates, responsible party and status

Reduce the number of people in the room - or add the missing folks.Nominate someone with enough power to gather the opinions and funnel them to your team. Take yourself out of the decision process and stand on dates.Dig further in and force a decision by running the meeting and requiring action items/decisions.

Too much feedback

Cant you just

YeahIm going to need you to add more cat photos, mmkay.

Scope control applies here.. but it also exposes a lack of awareness (or respect) for the process youre all in together.Some clients need constant reminder about the process you have to follow. Decision making, lead time, QA time, etc.

How clear is your process?

Cant you just is an opportunity to make your process more clear. But execs dont like explanations better to have documented that somewhere public, workshopped it, even, and kept that in front of everyone the whole time.

Dependency ManagementThe API/content/photos/stuff will be ready any day now

You cant frost a cupcake if its not baked yet.Also scream real loud

Small groupsWhats your biggest challenge with your TEAM?What do they DO?What DONT they do?

Over-thinking the work

Premature optimization is the root of all evil. Plan 100% (not 500%), develop 80%.

Gold-plating

Building in needless functionality for fun. Designing stuff that doesnt need designing.

Done vs. The right way

Perfect is the enemy of good. Good is often all you have time for

Personalities and Attitudes

#dpm2016@dsayswhatThanks!