The Accidental Project Manager

By Linky van der Merwe

By definition an Accidental Project Manager is “A business professional where project management is a secondary responsibility, but who is asked to do important corporate projects nonetheless”.

It can also be any person who now manages projects for the first time with little or no prior experience or training.

You may feel a bit like the guy in this picture!

According to research most project managers start out with a qualification which determines their early years’ experience. Often these individuals are technical specialists who were put in charge of projects in their respective fields or industries. If they show potential as managers and work well with people, they tend to gravitate toward project management. With introspection, they would discover that project management actually suits their natural abilities and complements their core talents and skills.

The move to full-time project management becomes easier once they undergo some training that would equip them with adequate technical and interpersonal skills. Although many of these skills are usually honed with experience while managing projects.

Often there would be a high expectation to succeed especially if they come from a background of being a subject matter expert or a manager, managing teams of people.

An accidental project manager would be eager and motivated to learn. Such a manager requires some sort of accelerated learning in order to become more confident at doing project management. A fortunate project manager, would be sent to do a project management course ranging from 5 days (typical project management methodology course) to 6 months with a diploma at the end.

Career Path

In many organisations, there is no clarity on the typical career path options that project managers have. They are left to their own devices with perhaps only their Line Managers giving them guidance and support.

I believe that many good project managers are often lost to the profession if they don’t have a clear career path within an organisation with a mature project management program. There needs to be opportunities created for training and mentoring, for networking with other project managers who are at the same organisation or at least with others who work at similar organisations or in similar industries.

Some-times the right opportunities are not available for project managers to move from being junior to more senior project managers and even program or portfolio managers. A project manager would then have to move to another organisation which presents a growth opportunity, leaving their previous organisation to lose good talent and intellectual property.

Mistakes new project managers make

Understanding how the scenario plays itself out over and over again for new project managers coming on-board into this ‘accidental profession’, it will come as no surprise that the inexperienced project managers will keep making the same mistakes that are so typical, like:

Poor governance (importance of good governance is underestimated, or not understood)
No Business Case
Unclear scope (requirements analysis are not done appropriately, or scope keeps changing)
Not doing proper planning, planning in isolation (common pitfall for new PM’s)
No break-down structure showing phases, milestones with deliverables (no experience with project methodology)
Underestimate the effort, chasing imposed deadlines (no confidence in own/team’s ability to plan well and giving feedback on realistic timelines)
Not proper buy-in from stakeholders (happens often with inexperienced PM with little authority)

Accelerated Learning

What accidental project managers often need, is a fast-track learning program to give them the necessary confidence to see projects through to a successful delivery. They need to grow critical project management competencies and learn how to overcome the biggest challenges on projects.

The learning curve can be steep while trying to become effective as a project manager through trial and error. They can make many mistakes and waste time and money.

PM Toolbox

If an accidental project manager can build the following PM Toolbox when starting out, it will make a big difference in their experience. Once a project is delivered successfully, the sense of accomplishment is a great reward. Good project managers will choose to stay in the profession and pursue project management as a long-term career.

The PM Toolbox would include:

The essential technical project management skills you need for your new role
The soft skills you’ll use daily on projects and how to develop them
Understanding Governance in order to be an effective project manager
The main pitfalls for new project managers and how to avoid them
How to examine your goals and aspirations to define a career path
Which strategies to implement that will yield the biggest results
What it means to be a professional and how you can become one too

For more information on how to build your PM Toolbox as part of a fast-track growth program, visit Project Manager Growth.

October 22, 2015February 14, 2022 Linky

Are you equipped for Project Management? Infographic

In today’s workplace many people find themselves in the position of having to manage projects. If they are not properly equipped or don’t have relevant tools to use, it may cause much stress and frustration.

Wrike conducted a survey on Work Management and put their findings in this interesting Infographic.

It covers roadblocks to productivity, how people manage information, what types of tools people use and more. You will also find the link below to download the full Report.

Infographic brought to you by Wrike

September 28, 2015December 22, 2018 Linky

Project Planning – Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

By Linky van der Merwe

The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a very important tool at the start of your planning phase.

Once you have defined your project scope, it is necessary to create a work breakdown structure. By definition it’s a tool used to define and group a project’s work elements in a way that helps organize and define the total work scope of the project.

There are many benefits to having a WBS as it provides the project manager and team with a task framework that helps with task scheduling and deriving cost estimates. From the WBS you can also identify the Deliverables and Milestones of your project.

It helps to finalise the project scope and plan the project properly. In addition it will help to outline the project budget and to link deliverables to resources.

Types of WBS

There are different types of WBS depending on the type of project. Have a look at some options:

Use project life cycle phases as the 2nd level and deliverables at the 3rd level
Organised based on major deliverables on 2nd level, tasks to be completed on 3rd level

Benefits of a WBS

A WBS will give the project team confidence in that they are clear on the in-scope activities. A well-defined WBS enables resources to be allocated to specific tasks, helps in generating a meaningful schedule, and makes calculating a reliable budget easier.

The WBS will show well defined tasks that can be assigned to a specific individual, who is then responsible for its completion. It will keep the team focused on the project objectives and make them committed to the goals and completion of the project.

Time required

The development of a WBS can take quite some time. Depending on the complexity of your project, the number of people who must provide input and how large the scope is, it can take hours, if not days and multiple workshops to complete. Once drafted, the WBS will require refinement and it may change as the project changes.

However the advantages of having a WBS far outweigh the challenges of creating it. A good WBS makes planning and executing a project easier and lays the groundwork for the schedule, tracking, budgeting, and accountability. It’s considered project management best practice to have a WBS and as such it’s an essential element of overall planning.

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September 14, 2015 Linky

Project Story: Retail Staff Scheduling System

By Linky van der Merwe

This project story is about the turn-around of a complex project which was over budget and not delivering on the expected business benefits. It was for a Staff Scheduling system in the Retail Sector with the objectives of effectively scheduling staff shifts, manage staff leave cycles and ultimately deduce staff costs for over 30 000 store staff. The brief to the project manager, Jurie van Heerden, was to finish outstanding Phase 1 work and to complete Phase 2.

Defects, Enhancements and management reporting

At the end of Phase 1 when the system was deployed in production, key management reports which were part of the scope, were not development and implemented. The management reports were key to measuring the system’s effectiveness and staff behaviour.

A list of critical defects and enhancements identified post deployment, also had to be addressed. Upon completion of the Management reports, a national training programme to train and embed the management reports within the store structure, had to be completed.

Schedule-to-Clock

The Phase 2 of the project was to implement a Proof of Concept for Schedule-to-Clock functionality which would prevent staff from working if they do not have a scheduled shift for that day.

Kick Starting the project

Initially a new communications plan and project structure had to be put in place …. Read more

September 8, 2015February 14, 2022 Linky

Project Management – A Growing Profession

According to the PMI’s Project Management Talent Gap Report, dated March 2013, the industry growth forecast is that an anticipated 15.7 million new project management roles will be created globally across seven project-intensive industries between 2010 and 2020. This will provide many opportunities for professionals to build project management skills.

The industries with a high level of project oriented work are:

Manufacturing
Business Services
Finance and Insurance
Oil and Gas
Information Services
Construction
Utilities

In the United States the Report has forecasted expanding job markets, rising salaries and growing industries like healthcare and business services.

With this rising demand for professional project management skills, you need to be looking for opportunities for ongoing growth and development.

One such opportunity is the free event offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI), called the Information systems and Technology Symposium 2015.

You will learn the most impactful and effective ways to integrate emerging technologies in your projects and increase your success. The PMI certification holders can earn 6 PDU’s by attending all sessions.

For more information and to register, visit Information systems and Technology Symposium 2015.

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August 26, 2015December 22, 2018 Linky

Causes of Conflict on Projects and Conflict Management

Conflict is inevitable in a project environment. There’s always competition for resources, incongruent requirements, break-downs in communications and many other factors that could become a source of conflict.

On a project conflict can lead to dysfunctional outcomes. However, if you actively manage conflict, it can actually help the team arrive at a better solution.

The Infographic below provides a good summary of many possible causes of conflict on projects.

Conflict Management

To manage conflict in a project environment, involves building trust for all parties to be open and honest and to engage in seeking a positive resolution to the situation creating the conflict. A Project Manager needs to strive to establish a collaborative approach among team members involved in order to fully resolve the problems.

If a collaborative approach is not possible, you need to use other management styles for handling the conflict, like assertiveness, accommodation, avoidance or compromise. Conflict is one of the biggest challenges a Project Manager faces on projects. You need to draw upon all your interpersonal skills to lead the team to a successful resolution.

A few things I have learned over the years are the importance of staying calm, to keep confident and allow parties to vent their frustration, but also ask them to come forward with possible solutions. It’s best not to be defensive, or apologising, or getting worked up in a situation of conflict. You need to develop a thick skin and try not to take things personally.

Also, don’t escalate people every time you have conflict, that’s also deferring the problem. Only escalate if you have tried to collaboratively solve the conflict and there’s still a break-down in communications or trust. Then you’ll find that senior management is very supportive in giving assistance to resolve the conflict.

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August 13, 2015February 13, 2022 Linky

Project Management Success = A Balance of Hard and Soft Skills

There are many strategies one can implement to improve your project management skills as long as you remember to keep a balance between hard skills and soft skills.

Hard skills are easier to learn and refer to tangible technical skills like scope management, planning and scheduling and assessing and responding to risks. On the other hand, soft skills are more difficult to teach, because they are less tangible and harder to quantify and measure. They refer to skills such as empathy, influence and emotional intelligence.

Top 3 Tips for improving Soft Skills

Make the commitment to learn and improve
Put yourself in situations where you can practice
Evaluate your progress and adjust as needed

Hard and Soft Skills Balance Infographic

Below you will find an Infographic from Brandeis University explaining these concepts really well.

August 3, 2015 Linky

Preparing for PMP Exam – Opportunity Cost

By Cornelius Fichtner, PMP, CSM

There are many possible topics covered in the Project Management Professional (PMP)® Exam. Undoubtedly you would use the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Fifth Edition as your primary resource as it is the globally recognized standard and guide for the project management profession. However, it does not cover every possible topic that the PMP Exam may touch on. One of those topics is Opportunity Cost.

Here we will explain why as a project manager you need to understand Opportunity Cost, beyond that it may be on the PMP Exam, and what exactly Opportunity Cost is. We will also give an example of an Opportunity Cost question.

Project Selection

Why does a Project Manager need to understand Opportunity Cost? It is very possible as a Project Manager you will be charged with project selection at some point in your career. You will need to make sure you evaluate and select projects based on your organization’s goals and needs to ensure returns are maximized as well as opportunity costs are minimized. As part of the project selection process you will need to evaluate where to best utilize valuable resources such as specific skill sets, time and money. Allocating these resources to a specific project prevents their use for other projects at the same time, after all an organization only has so many resources and needs to take on projects with the highest potential for success and the greatest return.

Potential Future Return

What is Opportunity Cost? Opportunity cost is the loss of potential future return from the second best unselected project. In other words, it is the opportunity (potential return) that will not be realized when one project is selected over another. For example if Project X has a potential return of $25,000 and Project Y has a potential return of $20,000, then selecting Project X for completion over Project Y will result in an opportunity cost of $20,000. That is the “loss” of not completing Project Y.

Sample Exam question

Herewith an example of a PMP Exam sample question around Opportunity Cost:

“You are part of a project selection team evaluating three proposed projects and you need to select the project that would bring the best return for the organization. Project A has an NPV of $25,000 and an IRR of 1.5, Project B has a NPV of $30,000 and an IRR of 1.25, and Project C has an NPV of $15,000 and an IRR of 1.5. What would be the opportunity cost of selecting Project B over Project A?”

$15,000
$5,000
$25,000
$30,000

The correct answer is C. Opportunity Cost is the potential return of the project not selected. In this case we did not select Project A, so it is $25,000. There is extra unrelated information in this question; IRR is not relevant when evaluating opportunity cost. Once all of the unnecessary information is filtered out the questions is simply asking what is the dollar value associated with Project A.

Opportunity Cost simply comes down to the benefits or returns that are passed up when one project is selected over another.

Understanding what Opportunity Cost is may or may not be necessary when taking the PMP Exam. Even if questions about Opportunity Cost are not on your PMP Exam it is still important for you as a Project Manager to understand Opportunity Cost as it is a method for selecting one project over another especially when valuable resources are limited.

About the author: Cornelius Fichtner, PMP is a noted PMP expert. He has helped over 34,000 students prepare for the PMP Exam with The Project Management PrepCast and The PMP Exam Simulator.

Use Coupon code Aug15 for 10% discount on the Prepcast in August.

July 22, 2015April 17, 2017 Linky

7 Facts on Project Management Methodologies and Standards

By Linky van der Merwe

As a Project Manager it’s important to differentiate between project management methodologies and standards. Here are 7 questions to help define what a methodology and a standard is, based on a summary of the best information I could find and what I know from experience.

#1 What is a methodology?

A methodology is a set of methods, processes and practices that are repeatedly carried out to deliver projects. It tells you what you have to do, to manage your projects from start to finish. It describes every step in the project life cycle in depth, so you know exactly which tasks to complete, when and how.

The key concept is that you repeat the same steps for every project you undertake, and by doing that, you will gain efficiencies in your approach.

#2 What is a standard?

A standard is “a collection of knowledge areas that are generally accepted as best practice in the industry”.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) developed the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3) – now a globally recognized standard – to enable organizations to identify, measure and improve PM capabilities, standardize processes, help solidify successful project outcomes and ultimately determine best practices and strengthen the connection between strategic planning and execution. OPM3 focuses on overall organizational strategic effectiveness and incorporates project, program and portfolio management. This standard was updated in 2008 and again in 2013 and is recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as an American National Standard.

#3 What is the difference between a methodology and a standard?

Standards give you industry guidance, whereas methodologies give you practical processes for managing projects. Standards are not methodologies, and vice versa. The two most popular standards are PMBOK and Prince2.

#4 Why use a methodology?

A project methodology should help you by giving you a clear process for managing projects. After you have customised it to perfectly fit your environment, your methodology should tell your team what has to be completed to deliver your project, how it should be done, in which order and by when.

#5 What should be included in a project management methodology?

When you buy a project methodology, it should give you:

A core set of processes to follow for delivering projects
A set of templates to help you build deliverables quickly
A suite of case studies to help you learn from past projects
An option for customizing the methodology provided
The ability to import your existing processes into it

#6 What a project management methodology will not do?

A Methodology is not a silver bullet. It will not fix projects by itself or guarantee success and an efficient, effective, experienced project manager is still required to deliver projects successfully. No methodology will be 100% applicable to every type of project. So you will need to customise any methodology you purchase to ensure that it perfectly fits your project management environment.

#7 What are the benefits of using a methodology?

By using a methodology you can:

Create a project roadmap
Monitor time, cost and quality (project triple constraint)
Control change and scope
Minimise risks and issues
Manage staff and suppliers

Of course, you will need to use the methodology that is most suitable to each project you undertake. For smaller projects, you will only want to apply lightweight processes and when managing large projects, you should apply the heavyweight processes to monitor and control every element of your project in depth.

But if you can manage every project you undertake in the same way, then you will gain efficiencies with your approach, work smarter and reduce your stress. You will also give your team a clear understanding of what you expect from them and boost your chances of success.

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Under PM Resources you will find some recommended Project Management Methodologies like:

In order to give you good descriptions of Project Management Methodologies, I have found an Infographic from Wrike, covering the 16 top project management approaches.

In the comments please share the project management methodologies that you have used and tell us more about them.

July 16, 2015December 22, 2018 Linky

10 Skills for your Project Management Path To Success

By Linky van der Merwe

In my current position at a big Retail Organisation, I frequently need to mentor project managers who are new to the project management profession. They are highly committed to being successful, but they need guidance and support from their managers as well as their peers to learn what is expected from them as project managers. They learn mostly from practice and over time they see that they are capable and like doing it.

In this article you will find 10 skills which are critical competencies to develop in order to become proficient in your path to success. It’s important to know what your strengths and skills are and if they match the skills needed to be a successful project manager.

#1 Be a Leader and a Manager

Leaders share and communicate a common vision (future state or end goal); they gain agreement and establish the future direction. They motivate others.

Managers are results driven and focus on getting work done against agreed requirements. A good project manager will constantly switch from a leader to a manager as situations require.

#2 Be a Team Builder and a Team Leader

Projects are often cross-functional in that they use people who may not have worked together before. It is up to the project manager to set the atmosphere of the team, and to lead them through the various team development phases to the point where they perform as a team.

#3 Be an Excellent Communicator

Being a communicator means recognising that it’s a two-way street. Information comes into the project and information goes out of the project. All communications on your project should be clear and complete.

As a project manager you will have to deal with both written and oral communications. Some examples are documents, meetings, reviews, reports, and assessments. A good mental guideline is “who needs this information, who gathers and delivers it, when or how often do they need it, and in what form will I give it to them”.

#4 Be a Good Organizer

Let’s just think of all the aspects on a project you will need to organize. Start with project filing including all documentation, contracts, e-mails, reviews, meetings, specialist documents, requirements and specifications, reports, changes, issues, risks, etc.

It’s almost impossible to stay organized without having Time Management Skills – so add this to your list!

#5 Be a Competent and Consistent Planner

The skill of planning can’t be underestimated (and neither can estimating!). There are known and logical steps in creating plans. As a project manager you will certainly own the Project Plan, but it must be created with input from the team. Examples are Project Schedules, Test Plans, Risk Management Plans, Hand-over Plans, Benefit Realisation Plans, etc. As long as you’re aware that planning should become second nature to you.

#6 Be a Problem Solver

Fortunately, this is a skill that can be learned.

Firstly, you need to identify the possible ’causes’ that lead to the problem ’symptom’. Causes can come from a variety of sources, some are:

interpersonal problems
internal sources
external sources
technical sources
management sources
communication
opinions or perceptions or politics

Having found the root causes, the next step is to analyze possible options and alternatives, and determine the best course of action to take in order to resolve the problem(s).

#7 Be a Negotiator and Influencer

Negotiation is working together with other people with the intention of coming to a joint agreement. And for all these you need to have some influencing skills. Influencing is getting events to happen by convincing the other person that your way is the better way – even if it’s not what they want. Influencing power is the ability to get people to do things they would not do otherwise.

#8 Set Up and Manage Budgets

At the heart of this is the skill of estimating – particularly cost estimates. Nearly always the project manager will need certain knowledge of financial techniques and systems along with accounting principles.

Part of the Project Plan will be something called the Cost Plan or often called the Project Budget. This will show the planned cost against a time-scale. The PM will want to get involved in purchasing, quoting, reconciling invoices, time sheets, etc.

The project manager then needs to establish what has actually happened as opposed to what was planned and to forecast the expected final costs. This will need to be communicated in status reports and to the Sponsor and Steering Committee.

#9 Customer First Orientation

A good project manager always puts the customer first. You need to understand the customer’s perspective regarding the project. Through empathy and alliance with the client you can manage expectations better and ensure complete customer satisfaction at the end of the project. This is possible even if the project runs over budget or over time.

#10 Knowledge of the Industry and Technology

It’s really advantageous to have technical knowledge relevant to the industry you’re working in. Without needing to be an expert, you need to be up to date with the specific industry issues and technologies important to the project you are managing.

Within these competencies there are numerous behaviours that are dependent on your level of maturity, life experience and emotional intelligence. This is not always possible to fast-track, but will come through years of experience.

One of my favourite motto’s I want to leave with you, that has always helped me on projects, are:

“always be planning, always be communicating and always be building relationships”.

Let us know in the comments what your biggest frustrations are. If you’re an experienced PM reading this, share with us some of your wisdom.

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July 7, 2015February 23, 2018 Linky

Guide to Agile Project Management

The traditional methods used in the practice of project management are hindered by a number of drawbacks, which become more pronounced when trying to satisfy the needs that more complex projects often demand.

This article looks at how Agile Project Management aims to address these shortcomings with a more flexible and interactive model which allows an adjustment to requirements and scenarios in a more bespoke way, allowing the user more creativity and a greater level of control.

If you are still investigating the use of Agile at your organisation, read “A closer look at what Agile project management is” for an overview of Agile principles, the stages, roles etc.

For an in-depth look of the Agile project management approaches, benefits and challenges, I recommend the Agile Project Management Guide from Simplilearn.

As you will read, one of the founding principles of the system and fundamental differences between Agile and traditional project management is the fact that it focuses on people, relationships and working software as opposed to processes and tools.

Please let us know in the comments what you think and feel free to share the Guide.

July 2, 2015April 26, 2019 Linky

Infographic: Project Management Timeline – Past, Present and Future

From the historic use of project management to build the Pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China, to present day domain knowledge, to the future outlook of project management, this Infographic provides an interesting overview from a UK and International perspective.

Discover more about the PM industry like Professional Bodies and membership, Accreditations, the top sectors requiring specialised domain expertise and the most used PM Methodologies. Lastly a look at the future of Project Management and the importance of developing the entrepreneurial Project Manager.

Project Management Timeline – An infographic by the team at Telegraph Courses

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