Guest post: SIPM reader

No blog is worth without it's readers. Period.

Over all these years it was a blessing seeing the readers increase, facebook community grow and the interactions happening over emails and twitter. Thank you everyone!

So, today we have Sara Broca a new project manager and SIPM reader from France who works in the railway industry who has put together an guest post specially for SIPM (Stepping into Project Management) newbies.

Needless to say she is passionate about Project Management, quality and all tools and techniques which is very evident from her regular tweets. She looks forward to get her PMP very soon.

Thank you Sara for your involvement whether it's over the Facebook community or occasional emails!

Defining objectives for a project: is it really hard?

An objective is a specific statement of a goal, to formulate a purpose.

The objective must be formulated without giving solutions but with a goal.

It must answer the question: "Where are we going?”

Organizing this step for project managers can be really hard, because:

- Goals are already defined

- Time to focus on it is too short

- Goals are not clear

- Customer does not express it clearly etc…

But we must do the project, that’s our work…

An objective must be measurable. You know you have succeeded when all objectives are achieved, and you know they were achieved if you can give their status.

To define them even if the issues listed are there, you can try to do this by:

- Identifying the subject

- Connecting it to the project purpose

- Connecting it to what is expected from you as project manager

- Expressing it with a verb.

Objectives must also be realistic:

- With the customer needs

- With the quality assurance

- With the organization

- With the team expectations.

They must be expressed:

- In the language of the organization and of the customer

- Clearly for the team

- Clearly for the stakeholders.

To define them, you must use team, stakeholders and customers.

Objectives are helpful to communicate, monitor progress, manage the team, create limits, and to better define changes.

Before defining objectives, the scope must be known and written.

The scope briefly answers to these issues:

- Is the project strategic?

-How it fits into the strategy of the organization?

- Are there other factors that may explain why the project is to be started at this time? And in this context?

- What are the external factors affecting the client of the project?

Next we can establish objectives.

Performance – Customer’s View:

- Quality, results expected by the customer, ...

Schedule – Business View:

- Development duration, specific activities time, crtical path, ...

Costs – Strategic view:

- Investment cost, cost by work package, risk plan, mitigation plan, …

Profitability –

- ROI, profits margins, operating costs…

Defining those helps setting priorities:

- What are the needs? What is important? What is good to have in the time scheduled? What is superfluous?

A good objective is one which can be clearly linked to strategy ‘organization and can be easily cascaded down through the project team.

Points of attention:

Defining objectives of the project is a milestone for the project manager because it is also the project manager who takes responsibility of the project. That's when the project manager becomes aware of where he will have to take his project.

(Pic courtesy:Sara Broca)

Interview happening at Facebook

The interview with Ron Holohan starts today. We post questions every evening at 8pm (CST), follow the interview here.

Interview with Ron Holohan

To celebrate summer and life- this month’s interview will be not in the blog but done in facebook- something we have never done before.

We are taking the interview outdoors- that is opening it up to more of you.

The interview will be spread over an entire week and be an interactive session where anyone can comment or ask questions. Each day I post the in Facebook and Ron Holohan , whom I am interviewing will reply right there.

To follow the interview, click here and feel free to come ready with your set of questions.

To know more about Ron, click here.

Summer Break

I'm taking a summer break till April and will return in May.

Enjoy!

(Pic Courtesy)

Negative influence- get rid of it

if you like who you are and want to get more from life, your job, tip a little more and get the moon- what is one thing you should completely discard from your life?

Simple- negative influence!

Even if you cant be super-positive about anything, try getting rid of the negativity and you are already feeling better.

Here's what to get rid of to feel better:

• all the people who pretend to be your friends and question you every move- you are worth more than this.
• your peers who will ell you to drop the certifications plans, because how much it is worth it- really?
• relatives who tell you to that you can relax now because what will working so hard get you- you never know, till you try!
• your boss when downplays your ability- don't let it get to you, he just doesn't want to qualify you by another raise.
• when you think its time to give up- call your mentor, your best friend, your mom or anyone who believes you more than you believe yourself.

What are you so scared off? Walk past those that don't believe in you and show them what you are made off.

To read more on how to get rid of negative influence:

Link 1

Link2

PM Community over the web

If you have wondered where to look at to find all the project management sites and blogs, look no further- PPM Community is here.

It has the entire list of blogs available in the web and a great way to learn all you can for free. If you like what you see, just vote for the blogs.

To follow them on twitter, click here.

It's that simple! Enjoy.

Interview with Bill Thom

We interview Bill Thom, who is a former engineer from the hydraulics industry. Since then Bill has obtained his PMP certification and a Masters Degree in Information Systems Management. He is also a Contributor and Reviewer of the PMBOK Fourth Edition.

Though Project Management and Information Systems Management is the focus of his vocation, he can be found traveling with camera in hand to capture an image to share with others.What an amazing project manager, who brings in the following interview what project management is all about.

Why did you decide to be a project manager?

I decided to become a project manager when I noticed that many of the projects I was working on as a developer seemed to be in a constant state of flux. Having had a history in the military, there was a discipline developed in me that told me there has got to be a better way to do things. Even though technology was advancing and applications were in development, I saw this need to wrap a logical process around what is being done. That’s where project management steps in and guided me in a direction that made sense.

Do you think the "blame game" is a big part when a project fails? Have you ever encountered it?

I do not necessarily feel that the “blame game” is part of project failure. I feel that the “blame game” becomes part of finding out why a project is failing. I have encountered the “blame game” in my history of being a project manager and I have also witnessed the ‘blame game” by others. An important thing to remember is that failure is an event not a person, as my friend Zig Ziglar has pointed out to me.

How do you think people should handle themselves when they are being blamed for failure of projects?

Pointing blame may not get you the desired results which is project success. As a project manager instead of blame let’s re-frame this into a lessons learned scenario. The blame may be found to be a lack of knowledge or a lack of a PM procedure. Take the opportunity to try to make the next project run smoother. Make each team member feel that the focus is on getting the job done and making improvements going forward.

What should newbies when thinking of joining project management know about it?

We are all familiar with check lists, to do lists, or whatever you want to call them. Though these are good for task at hand management, they do not take into account the PM process groups or knowledge areas. If Project Managers did nothing more than manage checklists, our value to organizations and our credentials would be worthless. Project Managers need to add value and be aware of the organizations big picture. I have written a couple of articles that may shed some more light in this. Another here.

BTW: The PMI accepted all of my articles for PDU’s … Every PM should take this into consideration.

Tell us something abut your blog- why did you start blogging?

There are a couple of reasons I started a blog. In 2009 I felt that I had knowledge and expertise to share with the project management community and I felt a blog was good for that. I had also published some PM articles and I wanted to provide my site visitors with links to them.

You are also very active in Twitter, do you think social media is bringing in a new communication style for project managers to network among themselves and perhaps with their team?

I feel that Blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook intertwine and assist PM’s with a variety of methods to learn, grow,share information and network. I have had LinkedIn requests from others who have read my blog or articles and want to keep in touch. I consider @JohnEstrella (on Twitter) a mentor. His thoughts, vision and use of Twitter has been quite impressive. I feel that not only have I shared my ideas on the topic of Project Management with others, I have learned from others in the field and incorporated their knowledge into my PM style. For project teams Twitter may not be the best way to communicate. This may be due to the confidentiality of projects and information to be retained within the walls of the organization.

One thing you shouldn't do, if you want to end up as a project manager?

In September of 2009 @corneliusficht posted … "Everyone asks for a strong project manager - when they get him/her they don't want him/her." As we become older, wiser and more experienced project managers we can read that post again and see a whole new meaning. Some businesses want PM’s to come in like a bull in a china shop and whip it into shape. Others want projects managed successfully without knocking people around in the process. Some businesses want project management processes and then feel it’s too much effort. Then there are businesses that want a PM and do not have a clue what project management is about. I could go on but I think you get the picture.

To answer the question … Never stop learning, never become complacent. Businesses today are looking to improve processes and react quickly to the economic climate. Ask yourself what you can do in your organization to improve project management processes that will be advantageous and streamline deliveries.

If you would like to connect with Bill and continue with the conversation, you can find him in linkedin, twitter and facebook.