Breaking down tasks for your WBS

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A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) breaks down your project into the activities needed to meet project objectives. Here are tips for breaking down project activities:

Break tasks down into 8 – 40 hours of effort.  To help track progress, break down work so tasks can be completed within a week. If a process takes longer than a week, establish checkpoints that are 40 hours of effort or less. Note: Toward the end of your project when you have less time to handle delayed task completions without impacting your project, shorten task durations to 16 hours or less so you can manage proactively.

Assign tasks to an individual, if possible. Every task will be assigned to people. Ideally, one person should be able to complete the broken-down task. When multiple people work on a task, name a spokesperson to track progress and report status. A best practice is to have an informal discussion with the spokesperson so you know how they will coordinate work on the task.

Identify how you tell when the task is complete.    To track progress easily, document what each low-level task delivers so you confirm that the task is complete.  As project manager, you don’t have to confirm completion. Ensure that a subject matter expert can confirm completion for every task in your WBS.

Tasks should be clearly defined.  Two main tests can be used to assess clarity: Will a team member assigned to work on the task understand the task description? Can you tell what tasks will precede or follow from a particular task? Tasks contribute to the construction of a schedule and should be defined logically, so you can determine whether a specific sequence is needed (i.e., you must write software before you test it). Alternatively, you might be able to perform tasks in parallel, like defining the task of “painting the house” to “paint the east side of the house” which could be done in parallel with “paint the west side of the house.”

For more about work breakdown structures, check out my Project Management Foundations: Schedules course.

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When to Create Customized Stakeholder Reports

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reports

Reports

Standardized project communication is part of effective stakeholder management, and yet at times customized reports may be best. Here are tips for when to invest the additional effort to create customized reports:

A key stakeholder has unique priorities. Stakeholders have unique priorities. Often, customized reports are needed to address those priorities. For example, your finance director may be the only stakeholder interested in your project cash flow from month to month. A project report with specific spending details for your influential and engaged finance director may be appropriate to keep your project moving forward. Don’t volunteer to provide customized reports for every unique stakeholder priority, but be prepared to do so when required to secure stakeholder buy-in.

A risk mitigation strategy calls for customized reports. Awareness can be an effective risk mitigation response. For example, if staff shortages present a project risk, a customized report for the staffing coordinator to address planned versus actual staff hours would be a prudent risk response. Customized reporting can also identify risk triggers that signal a risk coming to fruition and invoke response strategies. While standard reports can usually do this, other reporting may be necessary to surface risk triggers to keep your project on track.

The project gets stuck. Information is usually step 1 for getting a bogged project going again. Customized reports for key stakeholders could be the catalyst for resetting your struggling project. For example, if your stakeholders have conflicting project objectives, customized reports that feature each stakeholder’s area of interest can maintain buy-in and get the project re-focused — or keep it from stalling in the first place.

A stakeholder is stuck.  Influential stakeholders may need to see data presented in a different format or require more detail before they give you their support. After trying to emphasize control capabilities using standard reports, consider alternative reporting to get the support of a critical stakeholder.

You need to reinforce a point. As project managers, we often have foresight to outcomes that busy stakeholders don’t see. Customized reports that demonstrate your concern can be effective in getting the support you need. Say a senior leader gives his staff a generic direction like “make time to work on this project.” As a project manager, you may know that staff is struggling with their everyday operational tasks and will have difficulty accomplishing project work. If your pleas to the senior leader for more detailed direction fall on deaf ears, a report that shows actual allocation of work to the project versus the senior leader’s expectation might demonstrate the need for more detailed prioritization from the leader.

For more about stakeholder management and communications, check out Doug Rose’s Project Management Foundations: Communication course.

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Photo by Bernd Klutsch on Unsplash

From Newbie to Know-it-all

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technology expertI knew nothing about Project, QuickBooks, Visio, Basecamp and other tools when I started. I was a project manager and business owner faced with complicated tools I needed to do my jobs. Here are the techniques I use to master software quickly:

Take classes: Take more than one. Different teachers cover different topics and might provide great tips you haven’t heard anywhere else. Students learn in different ways – listening, watching, doing, and so on —  so it’s important to find an instructor who teaches in a way that resonates with you.

Read a book or two: If you’re really serious about mastering a product, get a book about it. Books can go into a lot more detail. Plus they have indexes to help you find topics and paper books are easy to flip through. eBooks are easy to search.

Read blogs about the product: Whether it’s the product blog or a blog from another organization, you can find incredibly helpful information there.

Search help: But don’t start in the in-product help. Use your browser and try different combinations of keywords or phrases. You’ll find results from product help but also from numerous other sites. Those other sites often have more detailed answers and great troubleshooting tips. Click the results that sound most like your question. If you don’t find an answer, click other results or try new keywords in your search. I have a very old HP LaserJet printer that works like a champ. I followed many links and eventually found info on the driver I needed to get the printer to work with Windows 10 – buried deep within HP help.

Post questions in product forums/groups: Product-related groups on LinkedIn, forums on the product website or forums hosted by other organizations have lots of knowledgeable people willing to share their expertise. You’re more likely to get helpful answers if you describe your issue in detail. Include the steps you took, what you expected, and what happened instead.

Explore on your own: Poke around the software. Try things. Test what happens when you perform different steps or use different software options. Use sample files to experiment. The more you do this, the better you’ll get at discovering things on your own.

Note: It’s tempting to immediately jump to asking an expert for an answer. That’s reasonable when you’re facing a tight deadline. However, you’ll learn and remember more when you expend some effort finding your answer.

Check out my courses on Linked In Learning here.

This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you click my links and make a purchase.

#project, #quickbooks, #projectpointers, #bonniebiafore

 

Establish an Effective Project Approval Process

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Delayed decisions by key project stakeholders can cripple a project schedule. Here are tips for managing your project approval processes to help you stay on track:

Determine the final arbiter: Although it’s best to get multiple opinions before project decisions are made, it’s crucial to clearly appoint the final arbiter for decisions. Collaboration is effective, but it can create undue delays if decision-making is not focused, and individuals can randomly enter objections or offer counter opinions. Set a timeframe for sharing viewpoints so reviews occur in a timely manner. Create tasks for decision-making in your project schedule with a deadline for final decisions.

Define targets for approval: Typically, project approval depends upon targets being reached, such as Return on Investment (ROI). Clearly define the targets required to gain project approval. In some instances, other project benefits might give you an opportunity to negotiate different targets. For example, while a project’s ROI might not reach a published target level, the project might qualify for approval if it significantly reduces business risk. Look at quantitative and qualitative benefits to make sure you generate the greatest opportunity for your project to be approved.

Understand the data required for approval:  In addition to defined targets, you must understand the data that’s required so you can ensure that it’s collected. To achieve project approval, be sure to summarize the collected data and present it in an intuitive, easy-to-understand manner. At times, some data may be deduced or estimated when included in a business case, and it can provide additional motivation for project approval.

Anticipate issues and conduct pre-approval meetings: A project should be approved only after relevant discussion. This is true for all project — even those that obviously need to be completed. Anticipating issues and conducting discussions prior to a formal approval meeting can streamline the process and save time. Also, what you learn from listening carefully during pre-approval conversations helps you define your project approach. In addition, you can obtain descriptions of your project outcomes in terms that are meaningful to your key stakeholders.

For more about project justification, check out my LinkedIn Learning course Project Management Foundations.

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Avoiding Risk Management Issues

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Make Change Meetings Easy

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Good change and stakeholder management help make change meetings easy-going approval exercises. Here are steps to avoid contentious change meetings:

  1. Ensure technical team members understand change impacts and risks. Technical teams often focus on how to accomplish a change without considering the potential effects on your business. Involve business team leaders so they can confirm the approach for a change before reviewing it with management. Describe any impacts in business language rather than technical jargon.
  2. Review change impact and risks with management: Reviewing a change with management before a change meeting facilitates supportive discussion. Your chances of getting a viable change approved increases when you give managers time to process change impacts and plan for how to manage them. This review also allows management to come up with ideas about increased value or reduced risk, which can be incorporated into your change planning. Finally, with time to review changes before the meeting, managers don’t need to ask fundamental questions in front of their peers.
  3. Propose a schedule and get preliminary agreement: Sometimes, the hardest part of a simple change is determining the best time to schedule it! The more discussion you have about schedule, the more you will understand the pros and cons of various alternatives. That way, the schedule may be worked out prior to a change meeting or finalized in a non-contentious manner at the change meeting.
  4. Ensure all change approvers are on board: Although you may have briefed key stakeholders and technical team members, be sure that all change signatories and their delegates are aware of the analysis that has been done. Answer any questions approvers may have and ensure they are comfortable to proceed. Doing so will avoid prevents undue delays getting your change approved.

Now you can enjoy easy change meetings where confirmation is the agenda. You’ll show that you have things under control and your project is professionally managed.

For more about change management, see Bob McGannon’s LinkedIn Change Management Foundations course.

 

Working with Home-based Team Members

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With home-based team members, it’s helpful to understand some of their habits. Here are a few that help you with them effectively:

Identify each team member’s preferred work hours: Home-based team members face challenges like childcare and home schooling. Find out when they’re the most productive. Don’t make assumptions. A colleague of mine used to assume home-based employees preferred contact during regular business hours. Only after a conversation did he learn that his employee tried to work a late shift so he could home-school his children in the morning.

Uncover what inspires ideas for your team members: We all have habits to recharge or generate new ideas. Some do this alone, while others prefer discussions. You can support team members when you know their preferences. Because you can’t see this behavior with remote employees, you have to ask. This knowledge guides you to intervene and ask questions, invite them to discuss situations, and arrange task deadlines so they have time to generate new ideas or solutions.

Do they prefer working solo or collaboratively?: This basic characteristic is often overlooked, even though it’s critical for maximizing someone’s productivity. With many people now working from home, don’t assume they are adjusting to working solo. Be proactive to understand their preference and support their need to work solo or collaboratively.

Share your own habits: If your employees know your patterns, they can work with you more effectively. They will understand how and when you are most likely to respond. Let your virtual team members know which tools you use and how frequently. Do you check email once a day and voicemail five times a day, or is it the other way around?  Share the working hours during which you are likely to respond for non-emergencies.

Understanding habits can help set expectations, create better working relationships, and improve team collaboration and communication.

For more about working with your team members, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you click my links and make a purchase.

Including Lessons Learned in a Closeout Report

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Capturing lessons learned thoughtfully in a closeout report is important and often overlooked. Here are lessons learned to include in your closeout report:

Project successes and issues: Highlight what went well and any issues experienced to inform future project managers. Keep to the facts. Don’t share personal opinions. Avoid names. The individuals involved won’t necessarily be available for future projects. Avoiding names also reduces the concern of publicly appraising a team member.

Plan recommendations and risk records: Help the next project manager be proactive. Recommend planning approaches and share risk records that would have helped your project.  Be specific to ensure that people not involved in your project fully understand the information. Document any organizational priorities or management preferences that impacted your project, as they will likely affect future projects. Don’t mention names. Simply share the priorities expressed by different areas of the business.

Early warning signs: Identify conditions that foreshadowed issues that occurred on your project. These signals are often overlooked. When tied to recommended risk records, knowing early warning signs can save considerable money and time on future projects. Talk about the characteristics of early deliverables and/or circumstances that affected your schedule or budget. If debates occurred between team managers, document those including their positions and rationales.

Other items you learned: Document what you wished you knew before you started the project. The future project manager that references this may be YOU, and you’ll be glad for a reminder of what to do or avoid on your new project!

For more about this, check out my course Project Management Foundations course.

This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you click my links and make a purchase.

It’s Not Just Agile versus Waterfall

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Designing your approach to project delivery is a strategic exercise, as there are several options. Here are questions to consider when choosing your approach:

How detailed will your requirements be? If your customer knows what they want and significant requirement changes are unlikely, traditional waterfall methods are appropriate. But pick only the waterfall tools you need. Limit project documentation to what will address risk. For example, you don’t need a procurement plan if you will purchase from a trusted supplier you have worked with before. Determine the tools you need based on the skill and experience you, your team, and key stakeholders have with the type of product you are delivering

What product are you producing? Agile, design/build or waterfall methodologies may or may not be suitable based on your project output. Building a house – think waterfall. A stand-alone web platform – think agile. But you could build either of those with a design/build approach if some requirements are well defined while others need to evolve. Consider how much flexibility you have in building your project’s products. Then choose the methodology that gives you the best chance of fulfilling scope and delivering on time.

What staff do you have available?  Agile can be a fantastic way to deliver a product – but only if you have experienced staff. Transitioning to agile is not trivial, so having staff members experienced in agile is important. If you are adopting agile, you can go hybrid…building parts of your product with agile and others in more of a waterfall approach. Selecting a project methodology based on your current capabilities and what you are aspiring to learn is a productive approach.

What does your customer expect? The project successes and failures your customers had in the past will form their judgment around project methodologies. They will have expectations for what they see or don’t see as you manage the project. If nothing else, embrace being predictable. A customer who understands what you are doing and whose expectations are being met – even in the face of some diversity – will usually stick with you. You might be running a perfect project but if what you’re doing seems unpredictable to your customer, your position is tenuous.

Remember, it isn’t just agile or waterfall. Agile, design/build, a hybrid approach or waterfall with extensive or limited tools are all options as you decide on a methodology to deliver your project outcomes.

For more on project management methodologies, check out my Project Management Foundations course on Linkedin Learning.

Photo by Jonatan Pie on Unsplash

When the Sponsor and Customer are Two Different People

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When your sponsor and project customer are two different people, you face some unique challenges. Here are tips for handling this situation:

Address differing needs. Understand the motivations and concerns of your sponsor and customer. Customize your reports and briefings to fit those needs. If they aren’t in alignment, your status updates are the best hope for creating cohesion on the project. Although it isn’t feasible to customize communication for every stakeholder, your sponsor and customer are vital and require appropriate attention.

Align priorities. Delivering scope, within budget and on time is the goal. However, issues may dictate prioritizing these critical constraints. Facilitate a discussion your sponsor and customer to align priorities. Imagine the challenge if your sponsor wants to cut scope to stay within budget, while your customer wants to retain scope and spend more. If they can’t agree, defer to your sponsor (and focus on the next two tips to keep things moving!)

Create a review committee. Your customer and sponsor may have different views of project success. Major deliverables and decisions require meaningful discussion and decision-making. Creating a committee to review deliverables and make significant decisions helps ensure organizational buy-in as your project proceeds.

Verify the approval process. Make sure your sponsor and customer are on the same page about who will make decisions and how that process will work. Determine this process in advance . The last thing you want is schedule delays because the sponsor and customer are arguing and engaging in an escalation process.

Having separate sponsor and customer perspectives and passion for your project brings many benefits – you generally produce a better product! Helping these vital stakeholder work in harmony is an important part of your role as a project manager.

To learn more, watch my course (#10 on LinkedIn’s Top 20 most popular courses for 2020). LinkedIn has made it free for September 2020.

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