RANGNEKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES AND RESEARCH

April—2014 Volume I—Issue 7

Blue Print

EDITORIAL

In the previous issue I had posted the picture of

’Qutb-Minar’ and had posed the question “for

such projects, does ROI apply?” Hundreds of

views poured in. The one which I liked the most

was the comment posted by one Mr.Srinivasan

from Chennai, who said “ROI is not an all-fit

criterion. It is one of the measures, Projects in

health, social, education, and cultural sectors are

much above the projects in the economic sector.

Contributions in the former are immeasurable.

However, they too are projects and need to be

treated like one, so that they get completed

seamlessly.” Thanks Srinivasan; I agree with you.

In this issue Ms Elizabeth Harrin talks about the

basics one should know about Project Manage-

ment. I liked the article for its simplicity, and

clarity. The icing on the cake is the ‘proverbs

and truths’ about Project Management, as nar-

rated by Mike Harding Roberts. They are so true

and practical. Enjoy reading the seventh edition

of ‘BLUE PRINT.’

Dr.S.S. Chandrashekar

Inside this issue:

New To Project Management? 1

Project Management Prov-erbs.

3

Project Management Truths. 5

Accreditation of Brenau Uni-versity, Georgia, USA

7

PG Diploma Program In Project Management

8

Preparing Managers For Success In A Changing World

NEW TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT?

10 Things You Need To Know

It would be nice to think that every company has a formal mentoring scheme, and

that you can tap into the experience of other project managers through this. How-

ever, that isn’t always the case. As a result, new project managers and people

managing projects for the first time often find themselves making mistakes. That’s

normal – everyone makes mistakes from time to time, especially in a new job. But

there are some simple things that you can do to get up to speed quickly and avoid

rookie errors. Project management consultant, author and business change ex-

pert Elizabeth Harrin shares 10 key pointers that will help you along the way.

Manage Scope:

The scope of your project is normally set at the beginning, but it’s

foolish to think that it won’t change. The average project goes

through 4 formal versions of scope, so you need to come up with

a way of managing those changes when they happen.

Learn, And Then Translate, The Vocab.

Project management has a lot of jargon. From baselines to Gantt

charts, work breakdown structures to risk sensitivity analysis,

there are so many new terms to get to grips with. And don’t get

me started on the terminology that goes with earned value man-

agement! The thing is, even if you understand the language, your

business colleagues probably won’t. Part of your job as a project

manager is to translate the project and the work you are doing

into terms that they can understand. Make it easy for them to

work with you.

Review Success Continually.

Traditionally, project managers tended to review the project on com-

pletion. The “lessons learned” meeting would look at everything

that went well and everything that didn’t, and pick out key lessons

to apply to future projects. This is still a good approach, but a bet-

ter approach is to do that as you go along, and not to leave it to

the last minute. Then you can tweak what you are doing to im-

prove things now.

Blue Print— Page 2

Create A Common Goal.

Projects are most successful when everyone knows what they are doing and why. I’ve worked on two par-

ticular projects where everyone had a very clear view of what would make the project a success and

what the business outcome should be. They were easily the hardest, most challenging projects I’ve

done to date, but it really helps to bring people back to the common reason why we are doing the work

in the first place. Shared objectives matter, so make sure you understand what your project is for.

Use Short Tasks.

Putting together a project schedule is time consuming and frankly a bit boring. So it’s tempting to use mas-

sively long tasks on your plan: for instance “testing”. This isn’t helpful in the long run as it is far harder to

track progress when your tasks are long. There’s a risk that someone on the team will keep telling you

that everything is on track and it’s only when it is too late to do anything about it that you’ll realize they

were wrong. Short tasks help you to pick up slippage early and do something about it.

Learn To Recognize A Showstopper.

What is going to kill your project? Some problems aren’t that big a deal. But some are huge and will cause

significant issues. Knowing which is which is partly down to your professional judgment, and if you are

new to projects you might doubt your own ability to make that call. Showstoppers are things that will pre-

vent your project from achieving its objectives. If you hit a problem and you don’t know how serious it

really is, talk to your project sponsor or a trusted colleague. The chances are, if you are worried, then

they will be too.

Manage Risk.

Risks are things that could potentially cause problems (there are also risks that could potentially improve

things, but that’s for another day). They haven’t yet, but they might. Don’t ignore them. The project man-

ager’s role is to work out how to make these risks disappear or at least have less of an impact if they do

happen. Each project risk will need a management strategy and an action plan. Work with your team to

establish what to do about them. You might not take any action for some smaller risks but for those that

have the potential to give you a big headache you’ll want to look at creative solutions to make them go

away.

Learn To Cope When Things Go Wrong.

When problems do hit (and they will!), the best project managers deal with them calmly and professionally. If

that isn’t your nature, you’ll have to work hard to give the impression of having everything under control.

You set the tone for the team and they will take their lead from you. However disastrous the problem,

don’t run around like a headless chicken screaming, “The sky is falling!” Sit down with some subject

matter experts and come up with some solutions to the problem so you can present your project sponsor

with a recommendation of how to deal with it.

STUDY ABROAD — A GLOBAL EXPOSURE PROGRAM

Four Weeks Program on-Campus at Brenau University, Gainesville, Georgia, USA.

Designed to give inputs in ‘International Business,’ thus, widening business horizon.

Provides a platform to meet captains of some of the Fortune 500 Companies.

Certification by Brenau University; a University of International repute.

For Details Contact: Registrar: 080-23409795, 23147407; Email: registrar@rimsr.in; www.rimsr.in

Understand The Benefits.

What benefits will this project deliver? Every project task you do should contribute to achieving those.

These days, companies don’t have the budget or resources to invest in projects that don’t deliver

anything useful. And as business priorities change at a scary rate, today’s high profile, top priority

project is tomorrow’s pointless exercise. Make sure you understand your project’s benefits and

keep checking that they will be achieved and that the project does still align with current business

strategy. If it doesn’t, it’s probably time for your project to be stopped and for you to work on some-

thing more worthwhile.

No One Will Understand Your Job.

Finally, accept the fact that people outside of project management won’t understand what you do. If the

project goes well, they’ll ask why they needed a project manager at all. If the project goes badly, be

prepared for it to be all your fault. I have always found it hard to explain the role of a project man-

ager. My job is to make it easy for other people to do their jobs, and if that doesn’t sound like a non-

job then I don’t know what does. If you can get a mentor, then get one. If you can’t, read everything

you can, research good practices online, attend training and take some certificates. In fact, do all

that even if you do have a mentor. You should never stop learning and developing professionally,

even when you’ve got lots of experience and people are asking you to mentor them. Project man-

agement is basically about building good relationships with other people to get things done, and as

every project and every person is different, there is always going to be something you can learn

and take forward to your next piece of work.

Ms.Elizabeth Harrin: Elizabeth Harrin is Director of The Otobos Group, a project communications consultancy. She

has a decade of experience in leading IT and process improvement projects in financial services and healthcare. She

also is experienced in managing business change. Elizabeth is the author of 3 books including Shortcuts to Success:

Project Management in the Real World, which was shortlisted for the CMI Management Book of the Year 2014. Eliza-

beth also writes the award-winning blog, www.GirlsGuideToPM.com.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROVERBS

Here are some proverbs, and truths about Project Management that are compiled, and some framed by Mr. Mike

Harding Roberts. I found them so interesting and relevant, both to Project Managers and Students, that I decided

to include them in this edition of ‘BLUE-PRINT.’

It takes one woman nine months to have a baby. It cannot be done in one month by impregnating nine women (although it is more fun trying).

The same work under the same conditions will be estimated differently by ten different estimators or by one estimator at ten different times.

Blue Print—Page 3

I

Any project can be estimated accurately (once it's completed).

The most valuable and least used WORD in a project manager's vocabulary is "NO".

The most valuable and least used PHRASE in a project manager's vocabulary is "I don't know".

Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn't have to do it.

You can con a sucker into committing to an impossible deadline, but you cannot con him into meeting it.

At the heart of every large project is a small project trying to get out.

If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

The more desperate the situation the more optimistic the situatee.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.

Too few people on a project can't solve the problems - too many create more problems than they solve.

A problem shared is a buck passed.

A change freeze is like the abominable snowman: it is a myth and would anyway melt when heat is applied.

A user will tell you anything you ask about, but nothing more.

A user is somebody who tells you what they want the day you give them what they asked for.

Right answers to wrong questions are just as wrong as wrong answers to right questions.

Of several possible interpretations of a communication, the least convenient is the correct one.

What you don't know hurts you.

The conditions attached to a promise are forgotten, only the promise is remembered.

There's never enough time to do it right first time but there's always enough time to go back and do it again.

I know that you believe that you understand what you think I said but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.

Estimators do it in groups - bottom up and top down.

Good estimators aren't modest: if it's huge they say so.

The sooner you begin coding the later you finish.

Anything that can be changed will be changed until there is no time left to change anything.

If project content is allowed to change freely the rate of change will exceed the rate of progress.

Change is inevitable - except from vending machines.

The person who says it will take the longest and cost the most is the only one with a clue how to do the job.

Difficult projects are easy, impossible projects are difficult, miracles are a little trickier.

Blue Print—Page 4

If you don't plan, it doesn't work. If you do plan, it doesn't work either. Why plan!

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of meeting the date is forgotten.

If you're 6 months late on a milestone due next week but nevertheless really believe you can make it, you're a pro-ject manager.

A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.

What is not on paper has not been said.

If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.

If you fail to plan you are planning to fail.

If you don't attack the risks, the risks will attack you.

A little risk management saves a lot of fan cleaning.

The sooner you get behind schedule, the more time you have to make it up.

A badly planned project will take three times longer than expected - a well planned project only twice as long as ex-pected.

If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs, you haven't understood the plan.

When all's said and done a lot more is said than done.

If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can leave until the day after.

Feather and down are padding - changes and contingencies will be real events.

There are no good project managers - only lucky ones.

The more you plan the luckier you get.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT TRUTHS

A project is one small step for the project sponsor, one giant leap for the project manager.

Good project management is not so much knowing what to do and when, as knowing what excuses to give and when.

If the project is going exactly to plan, something somewhere is going terribly wrong.

Everyone asks for a strong project manager - when they get him they don't want him.

Overtime is a figment of the naïve project manager's imagination.

Quantitative project management is for predicting cost and schedule overruns well in advance.

Blue Print—Page 5

Blue Print—Page 6

If there were no problem people there'd be no need for people who solve problems.

Some projects finish on time in spite of project management best practices.

Good project managers admit mistakes: that's why you so rarely meet a good project manager.

Fast - cheap - good: you can have any two.

There is such a thing as an unrealistic timescale.

The more ridiculous the deadline the more money will be wasted trying to meet it.

The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time the last 10% takes the other 90%.

The project would not have been started if the truth had been told about the cost and timescale.

To estimate a project, work out how long it would take one person to do it then multiply that by the number of peo-ple on the project.

Never underestimate the ability of senior management to buy a bad idea and fail to buy a good idea.

The most successful project managers have perfected the skill of being comfortable being uncomfortable.

You can build a reputation on what you're going to do.

When the weight of the project paperwork equals the weight of the project itself, the project can be considered complete.

If it happens once it's ignorance, if it happens twice it's neglect, if it happens three times it's policy.

Some things that don't count are counted, many things that count aren't counted.

If it wasn't for the 'last minute' nothing would get done.

Warning: dates in the calendar are closer than you think.

Furious activity does not necessarily equate to progress and is no substitute for understanding.

When you're up to your arse in alligators it's easy to forget you're there to drain the swamp.

There is no such thing as scope creep, only scope gallop.

Planning reduces uncertainty: you rule out at least one way the project could turn out.

If you have time to do it over again,

You'll never get away with doing it right the first time.

If you can interpret project status data in several different ways, only the most painful interpretation will be correct.

Blue Print -Page 7

Good project managers know when not to manage a project.

All project managers face problems on Monday mornings - good project managers are working on next Mon-day's.

Metrics are learned men's excuses.

For a project manager overruns are as certain as death and taxes.

People make a plan work, a plan alone seldom makes people work (Confucius).

If you want to make God laugh have a definite plan.

The typical project sponsor would rather starts ten projects than com-plete one single project (Vrisou van Eck).

If everything seems to be going well, you obviously don't know what's going on (Edward Murphy).

Planning without action is futile, ac-tion without planning is fatal.

The nice thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depres-sion.

No plan ever survived contact with the enemy.

Projects happen in two ways: a) Planned and then executed or, b) Executed, stopped, planned and then executed.

It's not the hours that count, it's what you do in those hours.

Good control reveals problems early - which only means you'll have longer to worry about them.

If there is anything to do, do it!

Compiled and some written by Mike Hard-ing Roberts - Is a Project Manager, Man-ager of Project Managers, Project Man-agement Trainer, Project Management Consultant.

Knowledge Has To Be Improved, Challenged, And Increased Constantly, Or It Vanishes.

Peter Drucker