The Best of Project Control by Jason Wesltland

The Best of Project Control A selection of professional insights from the Blog archive

Since 2008 our project management professionals have been sharing knowledge, experience and learning with online readers via the Project Manager Blog. Their collective wisdom provides a wealth of how to, top tips and best practice advice, for project managers, teams and businesses. To make their writings more accessible we’ve created a series of “Best of” project management topics available free to download and share. Here is a collection of excerpts and insights from blog posts that discuss ways to effectively monitor and control projects and if need be rein things in when projects or people get out of control. Enjoy!

Jason Westland CEO ProjectManager.com

A Project Plan Tool to Monitor Schedule Performance .............................................................................. 3 How to Control Scope.................................................................................................................................. 5 What is Project Management Without Control? ........................................................................................ 6 Project Management Tools to Gain Control of your Projects ..................................................................... 8 5 Things You Need to Monitor During Projects ........................................................................................ 11 Keeping Projects Under Budget ................................................................................................................ 11 Projects: How to Track and Manage Them ............................................................................................... 11 30 Day Free Software Trial ........................................................................................................................ 12

A Project Plan Tool to Monitor Schedule Performance There is a project plan tool you can use that can help prevent a project from slipping into a coma. This project tool is called a Milestone Report. The Milestone Report does just that, it reports out on milestones that have been reached, are about to be reached, or may even be running behind on a project. There are a number of useful applications of this project plan tool: 

Identify Resource Constraints: A common theme you hear across most companies is that there are not enough people to get the work done. It’s almost as if everyone has gone to the same class somewhere where they learned to say “we can’t do this because we don’t have enough people” as the first words out of their mouths. Sometimes this may be the case. Often it is not quite true. People may feel as if they don’t have enough time to get the work done, but with a bit of focus and careful planning they can pull it off. One of the benefits of the Milestone report is that it can objectively identify those legitimate circumstances where a resource or team is so taxed that they really can’t get everything done that needs to be accomplished.

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Identify Problems with Project Coordination: A second benefit of using the Milestone report as a project planning tool is that it can help identify problems with project coordination. What can occur on most projects is that a key deliverable may be finished. But, it stalls out because the next team was not aware that it was ready. This can cause a delay of hours, days, and sometimes weeks as something sits on the shelf waiting to be worked on. The milestone report can eliminate this from happening as everyone will know the exact date that a key deliverable will be complete. Uncover Cost and Budget Issues Early On: A budget can quickly be blown if the project manager does not stay on top of the expenditure details. A few modifications to this report will enable everyone to know whether project expenses are on track or if they need to be reined in a bit. ProjectManager.com © 2013 All Rights Reserved

Defining Milestones with this Project Plan Tool The first thing you need to do in putting together the Milestone report is define what you consider to be a milestone. A rule of thumb is that the higher up the executive ladder this report is being used, the higher the level of milestones that have been reached. For example, milestones that could be reported out at an executive level could be Phase based. These would be the major phases such as Initiation, Planning, Execution, Control, etc. If there are no problems with the project, all an executive really needs to know is which phases are done, what percentage is complete in the current phase, and when is that expected to be complete. You may want to make your milestones a bit more granular if the Milestone report is being utilized by middle management or team members. The milestone they may be concerned about is whether or not a certain document has been complete (such as a Business Requirements document) or if QA has finished the first cycle of testing. Just make sure that whatever you come up with as a milestone is as tangible as possible, simple to track, and easy for people to understand.

How Does this Project Plan Tool Look? There are myriad variations of this project planning tool. Below is one implementation of this tool you may consider. Down the left side of the report you will include the milestones you have defined as important. This is why it is important to think through your definition of a milestone. It is these milestones that you are going to track your project against. Across the top of the report and for each milestone, you will then include: 

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Brief Description (if necessary): Ideally, the title of the deliverable you have chosen should be sufficient in describing this particular item or task. If not, you can include a brief sentence or two describing the activity. This will be helpful if there are a number of people that come and go on the project. Who is Responsible: This is the “throat to choke” column. While not a particular fan of that expression, it does have some meaning in the context of this project planning tool. This is the person who is ultimately responsible for that milestone to be met. If it’s an entire Phase of a project that is being reported on then it may be a functional manager. If it’s a document, test plan, or coding that needs to be complete then it can be the resource themselves. This is the person that can answer any questions ProjectManager.com © 2013 All Rights Reserved

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about that particular deliverable or will have more details as to why it may be running behind. Planned Start Date: Include the original date this task, deliverable, phase, or milestone was to begin. This can be pulled directly from the original project plan. This original date serves as a benchmark to compare the other dates against. Actual Start Date: This field reports on when the task or milestone actually began. This does not need to be taken as a negative or assumed that it’s always going to be late. It could be that this particular item began before the planned start date. That’s good news that the rest of the team will want to know about as this affects when they will be able to start working on the deliverable themselves. Planned Finish Date: This can be updated from the original project plan as well. This will reflect on when that particular phase, deliverable, or milestone was originally thought to be complete. Actual Finish Date: This is the date that the milestone was met. This is important to know as it affects the start date of any activities that were linked to this particular deliverable. Notes: It’s always good to have a column for Notes to shed any further color on the situation, provide insight into the budget, or other relevant information that will help the recipient of the report.

Something else you may want to include in this project plan tool is projected start and finish dates. These would be your best estimates of when a deliverable that may be either ahead of or behind schedule could begin or end. You can use the Milestone report as a project plan tool to monitor the health of your project schedule. By keeping up with the dates in such a way you’ll be able to keep your project out of Intensive Care and well on its way to a complete recovery!

How to Control Scope There are 3 basic elements that you need to know about controlling project scope. Learn about them here http://youtu.be/DuthRT6j6i4  This first one is making sure that you know the scope.  The second one is in training your team in how to identify and manage those scope changes.  Lastly, it’s all about communications. ProjectManager.com © 2013 All Rights Reserved

What is Project Management Without Control? There are a number of reasons why perfectly good projects will suddenly take a turn for the worse and careen out of control. The following are a couple of these reasons: 

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The Project Plan Was Not Fully Baked – Everyone is so eager to get started on a new project that they run full speed ahead without pausing to reflect on what it will truly take to get this project done. People feel a couple of whiteboard sessions with some workflows and diagrams sketched out are enough to answer the question of what is project management and enough to get started. It doesn’t take too long to realize there was an entire set of functionality that was missing, or requirements that were overlooked, or technology not clearly understood that begins to raise its ugly head on a project that is about to take a turn for the worse. Strong Personalities and Hidden Agendas – What is project management without a bit of controversy and drama? A project may come onto your radar as a project manager with one set of objectives. It may be to introduce a new product line to the company or expand into a previously untapped market. These are noble and reasonable objectives and goals. The next thing you know, an astute, strong willed executive gets wind that this project is underway and uses it to his advantage. He uses this project as an opportunity to highlight some of the flaws and shortcomings of some of the departments that have not been cooperating with him recently. Next minute, this project is revised and warped enough that it no longer holds true to its original purpose, but rather to further the career of someone with a strong personality. Scope Creep – Ah, the nemesis of any project manager. There’s an expression that no good deed goes unpunished and scope creep is the epitome of where that punishment is delivered. A client may wonder what project management without some sort of flexibility is. They ask for a little bit extra here, a small feature request over there, and a bit of an accelerated time line to top it all off. You want to keep them happy, but the moment you say “yes” to any of the above requests without proper change control documents in place, you own the problems that ensue. Your ProjectManager.com © 2013 All Rights Reserved

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project will now be careening out of control as clients forget the favor you attempted to do for them by bending the rules a bit and only focus on what has not been delivered. The result? A project that is out of control. You Are Spread Too Thin – A final reason projects can get out of control is because you are spread too thin as a project manager. When you started with the company you had 3 good sized projects to manage. This kept you comfortably busy and pushed the performance envelope for you. But, what is project management without adding more responsibility to a person that is already busy? The next thing you know you have 5 projects, then 7, and then 9 projects to manage! You were comfortably busy managing 3 projects, but 9 are way too many and projects begin to lose control!

How to Keep Projects Under Control It can be hard to regain control of a project once it is officially out of control. It’s like the snowball that is rolling downhill and getting larger and larger with every revolution it takes. The following 4 steps will help you get back in the driver’s seat and get control of your project again. 

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Confirm – You need to take the time to pause and reflect with the resources that are responsible for executing on the project plan that they are clear with what needs to be accomplished. This is an interim check that needs to occur on a frequent basis. You should not assume that everything is on track as a project manager without making sure that everyone understands what is expected of them and confirms they understand their role. Assess – The second step falls into the category of “trust but verify”. What is project management without a bit of skepticism? You can take a resource at face value, but it is your responsibility to verify that what they are saying is indeed the case. It isn’t a matter of not trusting your team; it’s more a matter of making sure your definitions are exactly the same. For example, they may consider a task to be “complete” once they have finished what their job is on that particular deliverable. Your definition of “complete”, however, is that it has passed the necessary quality checks to certify it is ProjectManager.com © 2013 All Rights Reserved

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ready to go. Misaligned interpretations of the definition of “complete” are the beginnings of a project that can quickly get out of control. Modify – The next step you need to do to get a project back under control is to modify tasks and activities in order to get a project back to where it needs to be. Confirm that your project team knows what they are responsible for, and then verify that the project is in good shape. If you determine that it is on the path of getting out of control, then you need to modify your project plan to get things back on track. This may mean that you need to add more resources or cut some areas of functionality in order to get the project back under control. Inform – It is your responsibility as a project manager to inform project stakeholders of any modifications that you have made in the previous step. This is especially important with project sponsors and executives who are counting on the results of the project to be delivered. Can projects get out of control? Absolutely! There are a number of factors that lend themselves to projects getting out of control. It’s your job as a project manager to take the necessary steps to get your project back on track and keep the importance of project management at the top of everyone’s mind!

Project Management Tools to Gain Control of your Projects Many different types of energy exist throughout nature. Two particular types include Kinetic Energy and Stored Energy. 

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Kinetic Energy is the ability to move. Kinetic Energy is the energy of motion and allows for the ability to do work. Potential Energy, on the other hand, is the same as stored energy. This is when an object has the potential for creating energy but it has not been released yet.

An example that is frequently used to show the difference between the two – and their inherent relationship – is that of a roller-coaster. The higher the roller coaster goes up the track, the more potential it has for releasing energy. Once it has reached the top of the hill and paused for a second, it then has the greatest potential to release that energy. As soon as the coaster goes down the track the energy is released in the form of Kinetic energy, or the energy of motion.

Kinetic vs. Potential Project Managers Early on in a project manager’s career, they are focused on a whole lot of motion. They have two speeds…fast and faster. These project managers are running from meeting to meeting, providing updates, completing status reports, updating risks, working with project management tools and keeping up with every incessant detail about the projects they are managing. This is exactly what needs to happen in the early days of a project manager’s career, as it sets a great foundation for the future. The problem is that you can’t (and probably shouldn’t) keep up with this frenzied and frenetic pace your entire career. Not only will this wear you out, but you’ll also look funny doing it. This is where you change gears from kinetic energy to potential energy. Based upon the experience acquired in your kinetic younger years, you now carry with you much wisdom, insight, and judgment. You have moved from the role of being a kinetic doer to being a leader with a whole LOT of potential energy to get things done – with or without project management tools. Let’s look at some of the project management tools that project managers will use during different parts of their careers.

Project Management Tools of the Kinetic Project Manager The following are some of the tools that a newer project manager would have at their disposal. 

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Software – This could be existing software that a company already has in place or it may be one of the initiatives of a project manager that is new to an organization to implement a new project management software program. This tangible project management tool makes sure that everything is running smoothly and according to plan. Reports – Project Managers early on in their careers love generating lots of reports. They have a report for everything, as they should. They get dig into the details of numbers, open cases, quality scores, and anything and everything that any stakeholder at anytime would want to know about a particular project. Meetings – Regularly scheduled status meetings are one of the project management tools that are a mainstay of a project manager early on in their career. This provides the opportunity to make sure everyone is up to speed with the reports that have been generated from the software about the projects that are being managed. ProjectManager.com © 2013 All Rights Reserved

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Lots of Paperwork and Copies – What’s a meeting without tons of handouts? Project Managers early on in their career will make sure that everyone has every scrap of paper that will be necessary for them to know where a project stands and help them make the right decisions on moving the project forward. Long Presentations – Early on in a project managers career they will have a tendency to create long and detailed presentations. They are convinced that everyone loves the details as much as they do and they want to share this with everyone at any and every opportunity they get. Education – Anything related to education at this point is primarily centered on learning and taking away nuggets of wisdom to help them do their job better.

It is with this flurry of kinetic activity that a newer project manager will be rightly engaged.

Project Management Tools of the Potential Project Manager After many years, this kinetic energy can now be converted into potential energy. They (the Project Managers) are not going to be running around like crazy all day. However, when you really need to get a problem solved you can tap into their potential energy to release a flood of kinetic energy. The project management tools that a project manager uses at this point are very different.  Influence – This is when you can bring in the big guns i.e. when there are problems on a project. Once a project manager has made it to this point in their career, it is sometimes just a single request or word that will help resolve a problem that has plagued a less experienced project manager for days or weeks. An experienced project manager will bring with them a cache of experience, battle scars and pain that they can reflect upon. Over the years they have done countless favors for others and can reasonably and justifiably call those favors in when they need to get the job done.  Big Picture Thinking – At this stage of a project manager’s career they are not encumbered with the details. They look at the big picture. They look at trends. They ProjectManager.com © 2013 All Rights Reserved

look at “it’s good enough” in order to move on with the work at hand. They focus on those things that really matter and let others worry about those things that don’t matter one bit.  Meaningful Escalations – This quality ties into the project management tool of having influence above. If something does come to a grinding halt in one area, it takes one phone call or one email to move mountains. It goes something like this…”I know you told this person that it would take 2 weeks to finish this, but you and I both know that the actual time to get it done is just a matter of hours. Can’t you just shuffle something around, get this done and we’ll be out of your way. And, if you get any heat for this, just have them come see me.” Now that’s a meaningful escalation that doesn’t even need escalation!  Education – At this point in a project manager’s career, their education is focused on teaching and giving and helping others do their jobs better.

5 Things You Need to Monitor During Projects Now everybody knows about the triple constraint of time, cost, and quality governing what you can deliver on scope but a lot of people forget about managing and monitoring the external dependencies. Learn how to monitor your projects by watching this video presented by Content Director Devin Deen http://youtu.be/CTg_9K5K6hE

Keeping Projects Under Budget Devin Deen, Content Director here at ProjectManager.com talks fundamental things that you can do as a project manager to make sure that you do manage and control that project budget and make sure that you deliver under or on budget http://youtu.be/oXhgwn-girI

Projects: How to Track and Manage Them Want to learn how to track and manage your projects? Watch the following video and see Devin Deen, Content Director here at ProjectManager.com talk about how to track and manage projects and the six things that he does in all of his projects. http://youtu.be/AQnu_zxCETI

30 Day Free Software Trial There are two key differences between ProjectManager.com and its competitors. The first is that we give you all of the features you need to plan, track and report on projects efficiently. The second key difference is that our competitors charge a high upfront price as well as annual maintenance fees for new releases. Here at ProjectManager.com we offer you all of the features you need to manage projects, at a small monthly price of just $25 per user. That simple! When you sign up to ProjectManager.com, you also get for free: Unlimited Projects 3 Gigs of Document Storage Client Login Free Upgrade to New Releases

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Take a Free Trial Create your own Projects Sign up to boost your project success Any questions? Email support@ProjectManager.com and one of our friendly support staff will be happy to help. We also recommend a visit our resource library if you would like access to further: project management tips  video tutorials  project management templates