The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 8
July 30, 2007
In this week’s conclusion to “The 8 Biggest Problems” podcast, Cadence president John Patton brings you problem number eight in the series: Project Managers are Passive.
“In some companies, this is problem number one. I’ve saved it until problem number one, however, because I want to underscore it’s importance.”
There’s a core confusion in organizations between coordination and leadership. A coordinator assists the project manager in the logistical needs and support of the project. “They’re describing the wake at the rear of the boat,” says Patton. They are not project leaders.
On the other hand, project managers are well prepared with excuses defending poor project performance. “One of the most common,” says Patton, “‘This project was delayed due to circumstances beyond my control.’ If it’s out of their control, how could they possibly steer the project around it?”
This week, Patton gives organizations guidance on creating an experience-based career path that supports development of project management expertise in conjunction with project management methodology and maturity. He outlines the importance of credentials and technical background in developing project management, and outlines a plan of project manager promotion based on project success.
“I’m talking about persistence. It’s a very powerful word in our language, and also translates well into other languages. If you fall down, you get up. If you fall down again, you get up again. You always focus on keeping that project moving forward. Never ever, ever give up.”
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 8
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 7
July 23, 2007
This week, in “The 8 Biggest Problems” podcast, Cadence president John Patton brings you problem number seven in the series: Changes to cost, schedule, and performance are not controlled.
Even project teams with the best intentions suffer the challenges of “Scope Creep,” says Patton, and there are a number of contributing factors. For example, project team members often don’t have a complete understanding of projects during the planning phase and make changes to the work they’re doing past the half-way point of the project. Project managers agree to changes without due process, in an effort to provide good customer service, without understanding the changes being requested.
“Managers are uncomfortable with limits,” Patton says. “They want the flexibility to make changes when they think of them because they live in a world which is constantly changing and they’re constantly making adjustments to provide better customer service, better service to their clients in this living operating environment.”
However, a muddy change process becomes a circle that causes the schedule to slip, tasks to be late, and has a potentially negative overall project impact.
This week, Patton describes a process for addressing Task, Deliverable and Project level change to maintain efficiency and understanding while maintaining control over Cost, Schedule, and Performance variables on the project and respecting project authority.
“The people who complained the most about scope creep are the people who make the changes” Patton says. “Those are the project managers and the team members.”
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 7
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 6
July 16, 2007
This week, in “The 8 Biggest Problems” podcast, Cadence president John Patton brings you problem number six in the series: responsibility at the task level is unclear.
“We say that the project manager is responsible for everything, yet the project manager has no line authority,” says Patton. “When responsibilities are unclear and the work isn’t adequately defined, then you get status meetings that speak about the next one or two weeks out and we see the same project getting redefined over and over again in weekly status meetings, but never with a longer-term horizon, never with the end in sight.”
Unclear task responsibility can lead to project inefficiencies where you might not expect them. For example, as a project manager, you may find enthusiastic team members each working on the same task in isolation, where only one team member is appropriate. You may find an individual working on a task where two or three team members are required, which could force task rework further down the project timeline. In either case, the team suffers when task responsibilities are not clear.
This week, Patton introduces the Cadence Graphic Responsibility Matrix. This tool has been used time and again in Cadence consulting and training assignments to help project teams define accurate and reasonable responsibilities across projects.
“In my experience, we’ve found all sorts of project problems earlier using the responsibility matrix. These are problems about resources, these are problems of responsibility and authority — issues pop up when people start talking about tasks on a detailed level.”
The Cadence Graphic Responsibility Matrix is available as a PDF for download: http://cadencemc.com/tools/downloads/blankmatrix.pdf
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 6
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 5
July 9, 2007
This week, in “The 8 Biggest Problems” podcast, Cadence president John Patton brings you problem number five in the series: the inability to get team members.
“It’s tremendously frustrating for project managers who have projects authorized and launched and they can’t get the people to do the work,” says Patton.
Why does this happen? Patton outlines a number of possible causes from poor annual project planning to emergencies in the operating environment, to project managers who aren’t completely forthcoming in thier project status reports.
“Some project managers will even turn in status reports that say ‘no problems’,” says Patton, “because they want to give their management the impression that they’re under control. It’s very key to tell the truth in status reports, and when we’re having a staffing problem, not to give up, but to report continuously that this project is going to be delayed due to lack of staff.”
Patton outlines a number of key strategies for overcoming this potential project staffing challenges this week from his experience helping organizations get more projects done faster.
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 5
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 4
July 2, 2007
This week, in “The 8 Biggest Problems” podcast, Cadence president John Patton brings you problem number four in the series: people don’t know how to manage projects.
“Problem number four is why I started Cadence,” says Patton. “Our success has been based, in large part, on teaching people how to plan so that they can control a project.”
Project planning, at its very core, is imprecise. This requires typically precise project managers to explore uncomfortable territory in their efforts to keep control of their projects. In problem four, Patton explores each component of the project plan and describes how project managers can use the document to drive, manage, and control a range of projects, from the very simple to the most complex.
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 4
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 3
June 25, 2007
This week, in “The 8 Biggest Problems” podcast, Cadence president John Patton brings you problem number three in the series: projects start slow.
It’s a problem common across projects, teams, and orgnaizations, according to Patton. But it’s one easily fixed with the right strategies in place. The first step is for project managers to have a clear understanding of the difference between teams that are just active, and teams that are making effective progress on project deliverables.Listen to this week’s episode to get a better understanding of:
- Who sets the pace of your projects … and who should
- Why status reporting can define your project performance
- Who takes ownership of sluggish projects … and when to do it
- What questions you need to ask your teams that can inspire activity, energy, and passion over the long term!
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 3
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 2
June 18, 2007
Cadence President John Patton brings us this series based on his speech, “The 8 Biggest Problems with Project Planning and Execution … and Solutions for Each.” These eight problems come as a summary of the key issues Patton has witnessed in his experience as a seasoned project manager, and the wisdom he’s helped his client organizations to apply in moving beyond them. Each week, we will offer a dissection of some of the near-universal implementation and management problems felt by project managers around the world.
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 2
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 1
June 11, 2007
Cadence President John Patton brings us this series based on his speech, “The 8 Biggest Problems with Project Planning and Execution … and Solutions for Each.” These eight problems come as a summary of the key issues Patton has witnessed in his experience as a seasoned project manager, and the wisdom he’s helped his client organizations to apply in moving beyond them. Each week, we will offer a dissection of some of the near-universal implementation and management problems felt by project managers around the world.
The 8 Biggest Problems: Problem 1
Introduction to The 8 Biggest Problems
June 11, 2007
Cadence President John Patton brings us this series based on his speech, “The 8 Biggest Problems with Project Planning and Execution … and Solutions for Each.” These eight problems come as a summary of the key issues Patton has witnessed in his experience as a seasoned project manager, and the wisdom he’s helped his client organizations to apply in moving beyond them. Each week, we will offer a dissection of some of the near-universal implementation and management problems felt by project managers around the world.
