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U.S. Losing Competitive Edge in Technology

The recent eWeek story regarding U.S. decline in science and technology (see below) is nothing new.  We’ve heard this same story for twenty years.  But is anyone listening?

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/US-Losing-Competitive-Edge-in-Technology-Science-National-Science-Board-610257/

Over the Christmas break, I did my bit to encourage passion in software development, engineering, and project management.  I mentored a college student with an Arduio board.  (See http://www.arduino.cc/)  The Arduino is a microcontroller with inputs and outputs for controlling external devices.  It’s big in university engineering departments.  Awesome, dude!

We stayed up past midnight wiring circuits and slinging C++ code to exercise the Arduino I/O ports.  In a rat’s nest of wires, LED’s flashed, speakers squealed, and relays clattered.  Cool!  When it was over, the kid had a new passion for product development and engineering principles.

Code ‘til you drop, and then do it again tomorrow!  That’s my answer to declining technology in the U.S.  And I suppose it’s also my preferred project management style.

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Groupthink…Project Killer

Susan Cain just wrote a piece in the NY Times talking about the destructive force of groupthink (article found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?pagewanted=all). This started me thinking how groupthink applies to project management and the synergy created or hampered within a project team.
After reading the article I am more convinced that as a project manager it is important to encourage and draw out people’s experience and opinions. It is imperative that project teams have a voice and strong leadership to maintain project goals while remaining open to the team voices. Otherwise, we have the inverse problem. Instead of shortsighted groupthink that has little innovation and a blind rudder. You get analysis paralysis where the goal is clear but the wheels just spin. Which is worse? Probably about the same…nothing gets done, or it does, but it is completely wrong and misses the mark. What do you think?

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Define: Material resource

Material resource: A non-human, quantifyable substance assigned to project tasks.

Material resources are assigned to project tasks, but are not human resources.  They are any quantifyable material used to complete the task.  The image below illustrates.  In this example, 40 yards of sod are used in completing the “Lay sod” task.

–newshirt

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Earned Value Increases As It Travels

Earned value (or the value you receive on your intellectual property) increases as it travels through the supply chain.  In other words, the farther an item travels from the manufacturer to the consumer, the more value it brings the manufacturer.  Consumer items change hands many times before they end up in consumer’s hands.  Each time they change hands, more money is invested, and therefore the value goes up.

Consider the illustration below.  A single egg isn’t worth much until it is developed.  Its value rises 100 times from nest to table.

Have you ever considered that software does the same thing?  It earns value as it passes from idea to developer, to QA, to packaging, to reseller, and finally to consumer.  So, the true Earned Value of a product is dependent upon its position in the supply chain, not just at the coder’s keyboard.  You account for such value by quantifying your products on their route to the consumer.

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Ever Have One of Those Meetings?

I was in an important meeting and the project team pretty much knew that a certain person wasn’t carrying their weight. This person wasn’t a complete let down…but could do more. During the course of our project meeting an issue was raised as to why a task had not been completed. This person became defensive and started pointing fingers and making excuses. I lost it. A normally mild manner person, I let him have it. I gave him the what for and how come. However, I was out of line and spent hours in one on one meetings apologizing to this person and the rest of the team. There is a time to kick someone in the pants and a way to do it. My way that day was wrong. It costs our team more time in apologizing then this person not completing their task. The bottom line is we have to play the game with the team that we have. There isn’t always time to replace someone and many times there isn’t anyone else available…period. My advice…if you aren’t getting the job done, own it and move on. People respect that more than excuses. Secondly, be slow to speak or you may make a situation worse. I know, because I did

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What’s the difference between ‘Duration’ and ‘Work’?

What’s the difference between MS Project ‘Duration’ and ‘Work’ fields?  The image below probably explains it all.  It’s a simple task from Microsoft Project that shows both the ‘Duration’ and ‘Work’ columns.

 

Task Duration

 

As you can see ‘Duration’ defines the calendar time that the task will be worked on, while ‘Work’ defines the number of man-hours.  In this case, Frank is scheduled to work only 40 hours over the next four weeks.  That’s only 25% of his scheduled hours.

 

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Negotiating and Managing Project Expectations

One of the many factors in project cost overruns is due to setting unreasonable expectations. Whether working as a consultant outside a company or as a project manager within a company, all too often we become “yes” men to secure a deal or please superiors. We may win in the short term by getting the job or by delaying management’s wrath by telling them what they want to hear, but, in the long run, both scenarios are losers. As a consultant you land the gig and wind up with bad word of mouth advertising as being late and over budget. As an internal project manager you develop a reputation of being unreliable and/or overly optimistic. Instead, be real and upfront about duration and costs of expected projects. Give pushback to help set reasonable expectations. Maybe someone else will promise the moon? You should challenge competitors’ unreasonable assertions. You may still wind up losing the deal, but in the long run you will maintain your reputation and eventually land more deals because of it. Short term pain for long term gain is tough in this economy. What is your word worth and where do you go to get your reputation back?

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Daily Scrum in 1910?

Warren mentions Henry Gantt’s desire to update project schedules daily (see post of Dec 27, 2011 http://www.projectteamblog.com/?p=190).  He met with his team daily!  I find that refreshingly visionary.  Gantt is seeing a hundred years into the future, and doing things the right way.  He’s staying on top of things in his own 19th Century way.

Sure, Gantt’s daily meetings were not the same as a Daily Scrum meeting — Scrum is not a warmed-over Gantt chart.  Gantt was simply reminding his team of the project schedule and tasks ahead, and updating his new-style chart to reflect the conditions on the ground.

That effort alone — the daily meeting — probably accounts for 75% of the success of any project.  Three cheers for Henry Gantt — 1861-1919!

 

–newshirt

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The Gantt Chart and Daily Project Coordination

All project managers have used or at least heard of a Gantt chart. The Gantt chart was created by Henry Gantt around 1910 and still widely used today. It was used in major projects like the Hoover Dam. Henry Gantt designed the Gantt chart to help manage project scheduling and work progress. If you read his book, Work, Wages, and Profits (1916), you will note that Gantt believed it was imperative to communicate daily schedules to key players and by not doing so rendered schedules useless. Gantt thought it was important to be a project coordinator, to coordinate activities, and reduce conflicts. I think this is an important and often overlooked part of being a project manager. We often look at the larger picture and fail to identify “Daily” influences that cause project slowdowns. We should have daily expectations and identify barriers to those expectations each and every day.

Reference:
Gantt, H. L. (1916). Work, wages, and profits. San Diego, California: University of California Libraries.

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Project Driveway Snow

So I got home around 10:30 last night and there already was about four inches of snow on the ground. As I pulled into my garage, I know my truck is packing the snow on the driveway into hard ice. That is nearly impossible to get up. Then I thought…hey this is a job for the Project-team blog. Before I hit the sack I sketched out a rough project plan to start first thing in the morning.

6:00A.M.- emailed the team to begin the day announcing immediate project escalation for driveway snow removal by end of day.

Pete, my lead engineer: The driveway is 25’ x 40’ long and the snow is 6 inches deep. Please determine the cubic feet of snow removal and determine the most cost efficient shovel for the job. Oh, and we may have packed ice under snow. Find a tool for that, too.

John, our labor liaison: Get with Pete and determine the number of man hours needed to remove the snow…will we need one, two…three labor resources to complete on time? Remember, we need the job finished by 5pm today. Please provide estimated labor expense accordingly.

Les, in materials procurement: Please let Pete know if any ice melt is available. Please advise as to whether there are any has mat concerns and what costs are associated with procurement.

To All: I will be on site to assess progress and will be available throughout the morning. The plan is to begin removal by noon…let’s get to work…my wife has Christmas shopping to finish!

9:00AM: received message from Pete. He has located a shovel at Lowes for $15.99 and a tile remover for the ice, $34.99.

Pete: please get a P.O. together and have Dave Johnson and Allison Fields sign off immediately. We need their signatures by 10:30 A.M. because Betty Thomas (CFO) has an 11:00 AM. and is heading straight to the airport for Christmas break. We have to have Betty’s final approval before we can purchase equipment from Lowes.

10:00AM: John sent IM stating we can only get one labor resource because all the others are currently working at 98% capacity. We can only have the one available person from 2-4pm.

10:15AM: Pete: Just ran the numbers and we can have the ice removed utilizing one person in 3.5 hrs.

10:20AM: I replied to Pete…SCOPE CHANGE! I forgot we need to include the front side walk and porch. We are talking an additional 70 square feet! Please get back to me on man hours needed.

10:40AM: Message from Pete: We will need an additional 30 minutes for the sidewalk and porch… almost a 15% increase. I will get with John and see if we can secure additional resources.

11:00AM: Email to Pete…Have you got the P.O. approved…what is your ETA for getting equipment to site?

11:10AM: reply from Pete: We only have Allison’s signature, Dave is out sick. I will need to get Eric Jansen to sign off in place of Dave. Then I still have to catch Betty for her signature…working on it!

11:45 AM: Message from Pete: I have Dave’s signature trying to catch Betty before she leaves the building.

12:20PM: Message from John: I can’t get additional resources. I know we are behind on our project plan, but it looks like we have to go with what we have.

12:27PM: Message from Pete: It looks like I missed Betty, her 11:00 A.M. meeting was cancelled and she took an early flight. Can you get a petty cash disbursement for the equipment? (I don’t know why I didn’t think of that sooner!)

12:30PM: My reply to all:

Project Snow Team,
Due to a minor scope change and lack of funding the snow removal project has been delayed and it looks like I will just have to do it myself. Take the rest of the day off and have a Merry Christmas!