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White Papers: Six Sigma Can Help Project Managers Improve Results By Harry Rever, CSSBB, CQM, CQC, PMP |
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Published on Friday, February 06, 2009 - 08:46 PM |
If it was easy to improve business results, results would always improve. Obviously, this is not the case. Business leaders understand the power and usefulness of managing the improvement of key business results through projects and process improvement teams. That is why business leaders use project managers to address the toughest process improvement issues they face.
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White Papers: The Microsoft EPM Solution: Blending Tools to Create an Automated Project Management Environment By John White, PMP |
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Published on Friday, February 06, 2009 - 07:25 PM |
The enterprise project management business process encompasses project, program, and portfolio management. Program and project managers concentrate on doing the work correctly, while portfolio managers concentrate on doing the correct work. Project and program managers get the work accomplished on time and within budget to the satisfaction of their stakeholders. Portfolio managers help organizational decision makers select, categorize, prioritize, and control all work across the enterprise. They work to enhance strategic decision making, align projects and programs with the organization’s business strategy, maximize enterprise resource utilization and capacity, and monitor the organization’s operational efficiency.
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White Papers: Five Key Elements to Process Improvement Project Success By Harry Rever, PMP |
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Published on Monday, January 19, 2009 - 05:00 PM |
Originally published as a part of 2008 PMI Global Congress Proceedings – Denver, Colorado
Introduction
The Project Management Institute’s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), Third Edition, defines a project as, “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.” In terms of “process improvement projects”, projects can be defined as those temporary or short term endeavors designed to improve a process resulting in improved performance in a key performance indicator of the business. After all, what business leaders care about is improving results. That is the bottom line; improved performance. This fundamental objective is accomplished through projects, in particular process improvement projects. To improve results implies that results are actually measured; therefore, process improvement projects are focused on improving key metrics of the business.
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White Papers: Quality in Project Management - A Practical Look at Chapter 8 of the PMBOK® Guide By Harry Rever – Director of Six Sigma, International Institute for Learning |
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Published on Friday, November 30, 2007 - 07:39 PM |
Abstract
Project quality management is a vital aspect of any project, yet it is often misunderstood or improperly applied. Chapter 8 of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition (PMBOK® Guide), addresses the various aspects and importance of the topic, however, it doesn’t really tell project managers how to apply the tools and techniques effectively and with confidence. This paper attempts to make the topic of “quality� easily understandable and applicable to any project. Included within this article are practical advice, hints, and suggestions on the three aspects of project quality: Planning, Assurance, and Control. A project manager must have a firm grasp on how to effectively utilize data and measure results to effectively communicate with various stakeholder groups. If a project manager and a project team understand the various quality tools as well as how and when to use them, they will ultimately make better decisions, move the project along faster, and be much more successful with project recommendations and implementation.
Introduction
For most people, crunching numbers, dealing with data, and making charts is simply not too much fun. Most likely the data you want or need is either hard to access or nonexistent. If you actually can access the data, getting it in the format you need can be another hassle, altogether. To make matters worse, analyzing data, especially large data sets, can be confusing and downright monotonous. Yet few would argue having good supporting data makes project life easier, especially when communicating with stakeholders and top management. The proper use and application of data and data analysis can help just about any project be more successful. Often times, unfortunately, project managers struggle with how to effectively use data, and various analysis techniques, to make better, more informed decisions. “Quality management� is one of those ambiguous topics that can be quite confusing and maybe just a little bit scary. Project managers who struggle with the quality aspect of project management need some straightforward and practical advice on how to apply those quality tools and techniques mentioned in Chapter 8 of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition (PMBOK®.) The following article attempts to give readers several suggestions and guidelines on incorporating quality concepts, tools, and techniques into the successful management of any project.
The PMBOK® summarizes the tools and techniques associated with quality management in the table shown in Exhibit 1. Project quality management is broken down into three main processes: Quality Planning, Quality Assurance, and Quality Control. At first glance each process group has an imposing list of inputs, tools and techniques, and outputs. Keep in mind these tools are not new. They have been used in business settings for decades. Most of the analysis and charting techniques listed in the table can be done in a basic spreadsheet. The key for project managers is to simply incorporate the right tools from each process during the course of a project.
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White Papers: Planning a Project |
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Published on Friday, September 01, 2006 - 10:20 AM |
Did you know that one of the most common causes of project delay, overspend and customer dissatisfaction, is the a lack of proper project planning?
The “Project Planning� phase is one of the most critical phases within a project. Within this phase, the people, resources, finances, suppliers and tasks must be correctly scheduled, in order for the Project Manager to be able to monitor and control the project delivery effectively. To help you to plan projects better than before, we’ve described here:
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White Papers: Create a Business Case |
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Published on Friday, September 01, 2006 - 10:00 AM |
We all know that successful Project Management is about delivering projects on time, within budget and to specification. But what many forget is that it’s also important to deliver the business benefits to the customer. If your projects do not result in the stated business benefits, then your customer will not gain the return on investment expected, thereby affecting the level of success of your project.
So how do you ensure that your projects consistently deliver the stated business benefits to your customer? You can do this, by creating a “Business Case� for each project. Its purpose is to justify the initiation of the project and to clearly specify upfront, the business benefits to be delivered. In this white paper, we’ll explain how to:
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White Papers: Using Metrics as a catalyst in Achieving Successful Project Performance |
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Published on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 09:37 PM |
Using Metrics as a catalyst in Achieving Successful Project Performance, By: Parviz F. Rad, PhD, PMP, Project Management Consultant and Ginger Levin, DPA, Project Management Consultant
Introduction
It has long been recognized that metrics can be collected and utilized throughout all phases and all facets of project management. Metrics can identify important events and trends in the organization and can help guide the organization toward informed decisions. Metrics can be used to measure the status, effectiveness, and progress of project activities in order to gauge the contribution of formalized project management to the organization. Additionally, metrics can serve as the basis for clear and objective communication with project stakeholders. Additionally, metrics can promote teamwork and improve team morale by linking efforts of individual team members with the overall success of the project, and ultimately, the success of the organization.
Those organizations that follow a management-by-projects approach, and develop a performance-based style with a focus on portfolio management, continually become more sophisticated in the area of project management. Such a project management philosophy is highly formalized, carefully methodical, and it relies heavily on project measurement practices that are objective and consistent. Organizations which are forward-looking and progressive in their strategic plans, continually work to improve performance in achieving sustained success in all areas including that of managing projects. If the upper management of the enterprise is focused on achieving improved efficiency, a metrics program becomes a necessary business practice. Metrics can help guide the organization toward informed decisions as they provide indicators regarding the quality, adequacy, and progress of projects, processes, and products. A well-planned set of metrics can help the enterprise recognize the level of sophistication of the sum of its collective capabilities such that plans for producing and delivering products and services are consistently realistic and achievable. It is paradoxical that the same financial considerations that might tempt organizations to abandon an extensive formalized metrics system will be the ones that would realize the cost saving benefits of an effective metrics system through decreased expenses and increased profits.
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White Papers: How to Best Use the Project Management Office to Facilitate Project, and Organize |
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Published on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 09:22 PM |
How to Best Use the Project Management Office to Facilitate Project, and Organize, By: Parviz F. Rad, PhD, PMP, Project Management Consultant and Ginger Levin, DPA, Project Management ConsultantIntroduction
As project management becomes a recognized profession, and as organizations explicitly regard themselves as project oriented, the success of projects is brought into the limelight. Therefore, success of projects, primarily in the areas of scope, cost, and duration, becomes the focus of assessment of the effectiveness of the project manager in implementing the project, and the efficacy of the organization in supporting the project manager in pursuit of overall organizational objectives. This trend should only continue as projects become a way of life for more organizations.
The formalization of the implementation of the Project Management Office (PMO) signals its increased importance to the organization as evidenced by the higher frequency of successful projects. The PMO is not merely a staff to provide support for project activities such as schedule development, monitoring tasks, and for the use of project management software. Rather, it is an essential component for future organizational success. The PMO is the organizational entity with full-time personnel to provide a focal point for project management. It provides services and organizational focus in core and supporting areas of project management by training, consulting, and mentoring the project-related personnel, by augmenting project teams, and by serving as a clearinghouse for best practices.
This paper describes the types of project functions and enterprise functions that the PMO ideally should perform, emphasizing the importance of a project-friendly organizational structure. The steps an organization should take to implement a PMO and specific success criteria for the PMO function will be highlighted. Finally, this paper presents actual examples of different types of PMOs and some lessons learned in terms of use of the PMO to further organizational success.
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White Papers: Requirements for Effective Project Communications |
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Published on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 09:17 PM |
Requirements for Effective Project Communications: Differences and Similarities in Virtual and Traditional Project Environments
Ginger Levin, DPA, University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Project Management Consultant Parviz F. Rad
Introduction
The primary mission of the project manager working with either a virtual team or a traditional team is the delivery of the desired product or the facilitation of the required service. To that end, the team’s efforts are focused on the activities and measures that would produce the deliverable of the project in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The team must plan the delivery of the product or service through best practices, policies, and procedures. Effective communication within the team and with the project’s internal and external stakeholders is required.
Communication is defined as the transfer of some type of message that contains one or more pieces of information. The information that is conveyed can be either through formal channels or informal channels. Today’s project manager is both blessed and cursed by the quantity of communication tools available in the workplace. Formats for communication are extensive and include individual meetings, staff meetings, conference calls, e-mails, videoconferences, messages, and faxes. What each of these formats has in common is that all communication is interpersonal and goes from the sender to the receiver or receivers.
The project manager, as a communicator, must have correct tools and skills to reach all of the different types of individuals on the project team effectively. If the communication is predictable and effective, it will help maintain trust and momentum among team members. Communication techniques to assure team member involvement throughout all aspects of the project, therefore, are required.
This paper discusses similarities and differences in virtual and traditional project environments in terms of effective communication strategies and presents ideas, strategies, and guidelines for consideration and possible use on both types of project teams.
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Establish an environment where reporting bad news in a timely manner is encouraged rather than an environment where fear prevents the flow of critical information.
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