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Are You an Overloaded Project Manager?

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Are You an Overloaded Project Manager?

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Project managers usually manage more than one project at a time, which means they provide more value to their organization. But problems can arise when a project manager has too much work to do.  The Project Management Institute’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct recommends that project managers be honest and work within their skills and capabilities. So, if your workload is excessive, you should ask for help. Here are some indications that you are or could soon be overloaded.

  • Your PM workload adds up to more than your expected work hours in any given timeframe. A rough estimate of your PM workload is to calculate the total hours for all project work tasks (non-project-management) and then add 15% for project management. For instance, if the total hours for work tasks is 100 hours, 15 project management hours is a reasonable estimate. When you manage multiple projects, add up the 15% PM estimates from each project. If the combined total for any timeframe exceeds your expected work hours, there is a risk of overload.

    project hours.jpg

    Project manager workload with possible overload

  • Stakeholders feel ignored. Stakeholder management is an important activity for project managers. An early indicator of PM overload is key stakeholders saying they don’t know what’s happening on a project or say they are frustrated by their questions not being addressed. If this happens, look at the type of issues stakeholders raise and the complexity of your projects. Overly complex projects, even small ones, could require more time than the 15% rule of thumb suggests, which could cause PM overload.
  • Schedules aren’t updated. As a project manager, maintaining the project schedule is a fundamental, administrative project management task. As tasks are completed, you record progress and re-estimate project cost and completion time. If you’re overloaded, schedule updates are one of the first things that drops off your radar, even if you have a scheduling person to help you. If you don’t have time to update the schedule, it is time to ask to have some of your projects to be reassigned or to get some additional help.
  • Team synergy problems arise. Project managers need to ensure their team members are on board and working well together. They must understand their role, the responsibilities of other team members, and the relationships between deliverables. If this understanding breaks down, a PM typically notices these problems quickly. If not, you haven’t been paying attention to your team’s status, which could be due to your being overloaded.
  • Technical project issues arise and aren’t addressed. If you haven’t addressed technical issues that arose, this could be an indication of project manager overload. However, it can also mean you don’t have enough training or that you don’t have access to an experienced technical team member to address those issues. If that’s the case, you should ask for a technical resource to help you (because by that time training will take too long). 

Note: If you are supervising project managers, you can use these overload indicators to identify project managers that need help or to reassign projects to others.

What do you look for to determine whether you or one of your project managers is overloaded? Share with us in the comments section.

For more about project management effort, check out my Project Management Foundations course.

Coming Up

Keep on the lookout for more Office Hours broadcasts in July!

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 39,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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How to Leverage Organizational Change Management in Your Projects

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How to Leverage Organizational Change Management in Your Projects

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Projects drive change, so good change management is important for delivering project objectives successfully. Integrating project management with organizational change management means  that you manage the development of deliverables while also  making sure that stakeholders can use those deliverables to deliver business value. Here’s are some tips for  leveraging change management in your project plans.

  • Assess your organization’s change readiness. Success won’t be achieved if your organization isn’t equipped to handle the change that your project will introduce. One challenge for successful change is too few internal experts to both run the business and participate in the project rollout. Another challenge is change fatigue, which ambitious management teams often ignore. Your change manager should conduct a readiness study to ensure expertise is available and change fatigue won’t hamper your project.
  • Appoint technical experts as change agents. The change agent role often falls to the best communicators in the organization. This makes sense, because communication from and feedback to the project team is vital. However, technical experts have some advantages as change agents. Their technical expertise gives them influence. When they share their rationale for a change publicly, it carries weight with employees and management. If public speaking isn’t their strong suit, ask your change manager to help construct and deliver the technical expert’s message.
  • Leverage milestones. Like a project, change management is a journey. And just like a project, change management plans should include milestones to indicate progress. Change models such as ADKAR* have natural points for milestones, which you can include in your project plans. Emphasize the importance of reaching those milestones to make progress in your project schedule.
  • Deploy specific change-readiness criteria. Completion criteria are important for the change components of your plan. Tailor completion criteria (or readiness criteria) for different stakeholder groups who must absorb different types of change. Overall criteria like “the organization is ready” aren’t enough. Look at what each stakeholder group that’s absorbing change must accomplish. And create specific change readiness criteria for each group. Discuss the importance of meeting these criteria with management in advance. This will make it less likely for management to push out a solution without proper change readiness.

For more about change management models, check out the ADKAR site.

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 38,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Managing Virtual Team Members

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Managing a remote (virtual) team has some nuances over managing an onsite team. A few adjustments can make a big difference in your success with virtual team members. Here are a few techniques that can help your remote resources work as part of a productive team.

  • Hold frequent short meetings. Schedule meetings 3 times a week for 15 minutes. These meetings provide quick opportunities to understand what’s happening —  like conversations you have when you’re co-located with your team members. These discussions can identify problems early so remote team members don’t get stuck solving problems on their own. These meetings can be with small groups or 1-on-1 depending on the number of team members and their role on your project.
  • Foster a team the same way you do when you’re co-located. Reserve time for checking in on how your team members are doing and give them a chance to share with each other. Consider virtual coffee breaks where you don’t spend much time on business. Instead, encourage each team member to talk about what they’re doing outside of work or what their favorite work activities are. Or they can describe a book/podcast/video that they enjoyed.
  • Insist on good video conference capabilities. Phone calls are good, but video conference meetings are better…when the technology works. Seeing someone’s non-verbal cues helps you understand how meetings are going and connect with remote team members. If you don’t have video conferencing, make sure speaker phones work well. Nothing is worse than being remote and not hearing discussions, or not being able to contribute because you can’t be heard.
  • Arrange participation in meetings for all attendees. Give each attendee a purpose in meetings. Consider a role for every attendee in your virtual team meetings. Rotate coordination responsibilities for the meeting, such as delivering project status items or stakeholder perceptions. This approach relieves some project management workload while increasing meeting engagement.
  • Increase the frequency of feedback sessions. All team members benefit from feedback delivered by the PM. Virtual team members need this feedback even more, because they might not participate in other deliverable discussions. The sessions don’t have to be extensive. They can focus on one or two specific deliverables or presentations, and the impressions they generated. Feedback keeps virtual team members engaged and comfortable about their contributions.

Have you encountered problems dealing with remote team members? Or have you found ways to engage remote team members and improve their productivity? Share your questions or tips in the comments section.

For more about working with remote teams, check out  Cyndi Snyder Dionisio’s Leading Remote Project and Virtual Teams course.

Coming Up

Project success is driven to a large extent by healthy relationships within your project teams, which is why a lot of people skills go into project management. In this Office Hours on June 1, 2023, at 11:00am MT, Todd Dewitt will join me to talk about how to build better relationships – by learning to overcome our own fears and by building rapport with others through empathy and mutual respect.

Todd will be sharing some of the insights and strategies from his new book, Dancing with Monsters. I’m a big believer in relationship-building, so I’m looking forward to this conversation. I hope you’ll join us and bring your questions and challenges! Here’s the link to join: https://www.linkedin.com/events/betterrelationships-betterresul7060330084796170240

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 38,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Which is Better: A big picture or detail-oriented PM?

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Which is Better: A big picture or detail-oriented PM?

Photo by pine watt on Unsplash

If you want to be a better project manager, do you enhance your big-picture thinking, or focus on being more detail-oriented? Ideally, both! For some types of projects, one style or the other can be advantageous. Here are some situations when big picture thinking and detail-oriented thinking are more helpful. 

Big picture thinking is best when:

  • The organization considers a series of inter-related projects to address strategic needs, and inter-project relationships have to be identified and managed.
  • Many stakeholder groups are involved, and you have to define and establish the relationship between the stakeholders’ needs.
  • There are many potential approaches for delivering the project. To be successful, you have to evaluate different methods and determine the sequence of high-level activities and high-level business risks.
  • Resourcing issues will arise due to demands from projects and operations. You’ll need big-picture thinking to figure out ways to satisfy the resource demands from both.
  • Continuous improvement is the motivation for the project(s). With continuous improvement projects, the outcome of each project is a new environment which future projects are designed in. 

A detail-oriented project manager is better suited when:

  • The PM needs to be in charge of building the WBS, task groupings and task sequences. This is often the case when the PM also serves as a technical expert, or when particularly careful project planning is required.
  • The PM needs to be a focal point for resolving technical issues and working with management to justify the project team’s proposed actions.
  • A strong focus on risk, budget, or quality practices is required. As the saying goes, “the devil is in the details.” When a project is heavily constrained by the budget or timeline, attention to detail is crucial. Also, strict quality standards require a detail oriented PM.
  • Improving processes requires detailed analysis to be successful. The insights identified by a detail-oriented PM are helpful with this type of project.
  • Intricate or numerous specific requirements need to be satisfied. Attention to detail ensures that all requirements are captured and met.

I hope this information gives you a different perspective on project management skills and your personal tendencies.  Use it to identify your  areas for improvement and to recognize the need for different thinking styles so you can communicate to sponsors/potential hiring managers accordingly.

Remember, neither style is better than the other. And a big-picture person can be detail-oriented  and vice versa. Some people are naturally big-picture thinkers, while others tend to be detail-oriented. Being adept at both isn’t common. If you lean one way or the other, consider having someone of the other style on your project. That way, you get the best of both!

Have you tried to expand your thinking to include the style that isn’t your strong suit? What issues did you run into? What was most helpful to your improvement? Share with us in the comment section.

 

Coming Up

Project success is driven to a large extent by healthy relationships within your project teams, which is why a lot of people skills go into project management. In this Office Hours on June 1, 2023, at 11:00am MT, Todd Dewitt will join me to talk about how to build better relationships – by learning to overcome our own fears and by building rapport with others through empathy and mutual respect.

Todd will be sharing some of the insights and strategies from his new book, Dancing with Monsters. I’m a big believer in relationship-building, so I’m looking forward to this conversation. I hope you’ll join us and bring your questions and challenges! Here’s the link to join: https://www.linkedin.com/events/betterrelationships-betterresul7060330084796170240

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 37,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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How to Leverage Your Out-of-Scope Statement

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How to Leverage Your Out-of-Scope Statement

Photo by Mohammed-Alqarni on Unsplash

The Scope Statement may be the most important document a project manager publishes. It helps define the project, captures what the project will produce, and defines success criteria for those results. A crucial section of the scope statement doesn’t cover what is in scope at all: the part that specifies what’s out of scope. Here are some tips for getting the most out of your scope statement’s out-of-scope section.

  • Make sure it reflects project delivery realities. In the scope statement, be specific about what is in and out of scope. In the out-of-scope section, be sure to document why out-of-scope elements are excluded. Typically, out of scope items are dictated by time to delivery, complexity or the availability of expertise. Sometimes, business priorities might exclude items.
  • Explain the advantages of smaller scope. A smaller scope allows for focused effort, a smaller team to manage, reduced cost, and less need for integration. These reduce complexity and increase the probability of successful project completion. If the reduced scope causes concern with key stakeholders, create risk profiles for the proposed smaller scope and one for the larger project stakeholders may be looking for. The differences in risk might help you justify going forward with a smaller scope.
  • Trigger debate, if necessary. When it comes to project scope, the worst debates are ones that need to occur, but don’t. Succinctly documenting what is in and out of scope is likely to generate a debate between key stakeholders. That’s good because it’s probably needed to move your project forward. Remember, your job as the project manager is to evaluate risk and deliverability. So, your part in the debate is to inform the stakeholders, not choose sides! 
  • Share what a “Phase 2” might look like. When an individual project ends, it doesn’t have to mean that creating business value ends. Many practical project initiatives involve a string of projects, each delivering incremental value. In fact, that’s the premise of agile project methodologies. Note in your out-of-scope section what a future project, like a phase 2, might look like. This can make it easier for stakeholders to approve your scope statement. 

Have you used the out of scope section in other ways? Or has that section gotten you into trouble or saved your project from problems? Share with us in the comments section.

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

Coming Up

On May 18 at 4PM MT, I will be joining Christina Charenkova to talk about how Project Managers and Change Managers collaborate on things like scope, communication, and stakeholder management. We’ll discuss how to use and clarify roles and plans, avoid pitfalls, and collaborate better for awesome outcomes! Sign up here:

https://www.linkedin.com/events/7056412593510363136

On June 1st at 11AM  MT, Todd Dewitt will join me to talk about how to build better relationships – by learning to overcome our own fears and also by building rapport with others through empathy and mutual respect. Todd will be sharing some of the insights and strategies from his new book, Dancing with Monsters. I’m a big believer in relationship-building, so I’m looking forward to this conversation. I hope you’ll join us and bring your questions and challenges!

https://www.linkedin.com/events/betterrelationships-betterresul7060330084796170240

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 36,000 subscribers. If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Determine Your Minimum Viable Product

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Determine Your Minimum Viable Product

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

A key to success in an agile project environment is to determine your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) — that is, the smallest, quickest-to-develop product that provides business value. With passionate stakeholders, keeping the MVP to a minimum can be a challenge. Here are steps to help you define your MVP.  

  • Understand the pain or opportunity. Take the time to understand the source of a problem (the pain) or the envisioned improvement (an opportunity). Analyze processes analysis to further understand the source of pain or opportunity. How can you generate value by adding/removing/creating new steps in a process? Your goal in producing a valid, minimal MVP is to minimize the number of process changes to achieve an improvement.
  • Sit at your customer’s desk (literally, if possible) and watch how they perform their job.  Watch for anything that represents manual activity: duplicate data entry, data verification or handoffs to another person or department. Many of these inefficiencies are taken for granted when collecting requirements. Observing someone at work can flag these as candidates to include in your MVP. If your customer shares other requirements during your “customer desk time,” ask them to show you what they envision. Be sure they use their current processes and tools to do so. Sketch things out on a whiteboard. Make sure you understand the advantages of their proposal.
  • Prioritize the features that surface. And be persistent! You may collect a lot of potential features while you sit at your customer’s desk. Use your observations to identify the most impactful features. If you are having trouble prioritizing, use the pairwise comparison approach. Take each feature and pair it with another. Then ask which one would you prefer to have. Do that for every possible pair of features, and you’ll have a prioritized list. 
  • Iterate building a prototype until you generate business value.  Generating ANY business value means you have created an MVP. That is, if your prototype shows evidence of delivering a positive business outcome, you have an MVP. Share it with your customers and assure them that you can continue to add more features and enhance business value. Doing this avoids the trap of an MVP not being a true minimum, but rather a set of features that address more than one point of pain or opportunity. Stick to the literal definition – a minimum solution – and you’ll be sure to generate the MVP agile was designed to produce.  

What else do you do to identify the minimum viable product in your agile projects? What questions do you have about identifying a true minimum product? Share with us in the comments section.

For more about minimum viable product, check out Daniel Stanton’s Project Management Tips course.

Coming Up

On May 18 at 4PM MT, I will be joining Christina Charenkova to talk about how Project Managers and Change Managers collaborate on things like scope, communication, and stakeholder management. We’ll discuss how to use and clarify roles and plans, avoid pitfalls, and collaborate better for awesome outcomes! Sign up here: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7056412593510363136

On June 1st at 11AM  MT, Todd Dewitt will join me to talk about how to build better relationships – by learning to overcome our own fears and also by building rapport with others through empathy and mutual respect. Todd will be sharing some of the insights and strategies from his new book, Dancing with Monsters. I’m a big believer in relationship-building, so I’m looking forward to this conversation. I hope you’ll join us and bring your questions and challenges!

https://www.linkedin.com/events/betterrelationships-betterresul7060330084796170240

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 36,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Communication Tips for Handling People’s Concerns

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Communication Tips for Handling People's Concerns

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Even with the best communication plan in place, your stakeholders might have concerns about your project. Here are a few common-sense communication tips to use when you’re addressing concerns. (These work equally well in professional and personal situations.)

  • Listen actively.  Your stakeholders should no doubt that you’ve heard what they said. You can do this by explaining how you think their concerns might affect the project. Make sure that your views reflect your stakeholders’ fears. Also, spell out the steps you are or will take to address their concerns.

Important Note: Explain your views and the actions you will take even when you don’t agree with the stakeholders’ concerns. Don’t try to convince a stakeholder that their concerns are unfounded. For example, say that the stakeholder is worried about a risk that you think is unlikely to occur. Normally, you wouldn’t add it to your list of actively monitored risks. But in this case, you would monitor what you need to track their concern – or take an action to track the risk. You will build trust and a stronger relationship by appreciating their emotions and acting on their concerns.

  • Provide regular updates through your stakeholders’ preferred medium. To reinforce that you’ve heard your stakeholders’ concerns, make sure that the stakeholders have up-to-date status of their concerns. Set up a schedule for updates that the stakeholders are comfortable with. Always use the communication method your stakeholder prefers. For example, you might use formal methods, like status reports, as well as informal methods like a specific message to your stakeholder. Keep your updates concise and make sure they address their concerns. Use the same vocabulary the stakeholder uses to reinforce that you listened and understand their situation.
  • Be transparent and share bad news early. To maintain trust, you must share both good and bad news in a timely manner. Also, don’t let stakeholders hear bad news come from anyone before you communicate it. If that happens, your relationship could be permanently damaged. Contact your concerned stakeholder whenever theirs concerns come to fruition. At that time, explain the issue and what you’re doing to address it. If you aren’t sure what action you’ll take, explain the investigation you’re doing and the alternatives you’re considering. Ask your stakeholders for opinions.  Let them know you’ve chosen a course of action. Schedule follow-ups to report on your progress.
  • Be realistic. While stakeholders may prefer to be reassured, don’t fall into the trap of trying to “fix their concern.” If things aren’t good, clearly state that. Don’t sugar-coat it or they might not get your message. Reaffirm the actions you’re taking. Tell them (and mean it) that you are dedicated to solving the issues that arise. 
  • Watch your mood.  Be mindful of your mood. Your stakeholder will catch your mood more easily than the words you use, no matter how wise your words may be. If you are feeling negative emotions, take time to improve your mood before you meet your stakeholder.

Do you have other tips for communicating when people are concerned about something in your project? What about when they’re angry or demoralized or overwhelmed? Share with us in the comments section.

For more about communication, check out Doug Rose’s Project Management Foundations: Communication course.

Coming Up

On May 18th 4PM MT, I will be joining Christina Charenkova to talk about how Project Managers and Change Managers collaborate on things like scope, communication, and stakeholder management. We’ll discuss how to leverage and clarify roles and plans, avoid pitfalls, and collaborate better for awesome outcomes! Sign up here: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7056412593510363136

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 35,000 subscribers. If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications whenever a new article posts. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved).

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Expanding Team Member Capabilities

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The people on each project team have unique skills and strengths. To increase the effectiveness of your teams, look for opportunities to leverage and expand those attributes. Here are four approaches for expanding team member capabilities.  

  • Identify and leverage team member strengths. Take time to identify your team members’ strengths and weaknesses. Ask them questions to uncover their individual talents and preferences. Use what you learn to assign tasks that are best suited to their skill set. Also, look for opportunities to expand their experiences. Assignments that increase skills generate enthusiasm and loyalty, which can help you achieve better project results . 
  • Create a learning culture. Establish a culture of learning and continuous improvement. Set up opportunities to learn from you (the PM) and from other team members, such as lunch and learns, or cross-training sessions. Set up sessions where team members present their work and share their expertise. This can expand knowledge and perspectives throughout your project team. In addition, it will increase your team flexibility if a team member will be absent. When practical, support your team members when they try new approaches or work out of their comfort zone. You’ll improve team dynamics and project outcomes. 
  • Facilitate candid and courageous risk-based communication. Encourage team members to share their experiences, even when challenging the status quo. Every team member’s experience is valid. To reduce risk, use their collected pool of experience to determine the best direction . Make sure that stakeholders who are risk-averse don’t discourage team members from voicing their concerns. You will reinforce the value you place on team experience and enhance their sense of project ownership.
  • Focus on formal professional development. A learning-focused project environment creates significant professional development opportunities. You can go further by supporting team members in their pursuit of formal training and certifications. That way, they can increase their skills and stay up to date with industry trends. In turn, this helps you deliver better outcomes.  

Whether you are a project manager or team member, what are your preferred approaches for expanding capability? Share with us in the comments section.

For more about team building, check out Daniel Stanton’s Project Management Foundations: Teams course.

Coming Up

On May 18th 4PM MT, I will be joining Christina Charenkova to talk about how Project Managers and Change Managers collaborate on things like scope, communication, and stakeholder management. We’ll discuss how to leverage and clarify roles and plans, avoid pitfalls, and collaborate better for awesome outcomes! Sign up here: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7056412593510363136

_______________________________________

This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 35,000 subscribers. This newsletter is 100% written by a human (no aliens or AIs involved). If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Reduce Risk by Managing Project Assumptions

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Reduce Risk by Managing Project Assumptions

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Assumptions are an important and necessary part of launching a project — and you continue to evaluate them as your project progresses. Managing assumptions appropriately helps you reduce project risk. Here are four recommendations for handling project assumptions.

  • Determine when you can validate assumptions. Build a plan for how and when you can validate your assumptions. The earlier you can validate an assumption, the less risk it poses for the project. You can usually validate funding availability and internal staffing data early, because they require discussions within the company. Vendors’ staff availability should also be available early, but keep in mind how much experience you need. More experienced staff may not be available in the short term. Sometimes, validating assumptions takes longer. For example, waiting for a software release so you can confirm its capabilities. 
  • Identify the data you might need from stakeholders. Provide stakeholders with details about data you need to validate your assumptions and request it from them in writing as soon as possible. Don’t be surprised if you get incomplete data. Work with your sponsor to define the minimum amount of information you need to validate an assumption. If the data you require isn’t available, you need to manage that unvalidated assumption as a risk.
  • Plan your actions if an assumption is proved false. Investigate alternatives if an assumption is incorrect. At times, you might be able to take a different approach to complete your project. For example, create a more people-intensive process versus using automation that won’t be available on time. In other cases, an invalid assumption may mean cancelling or postponing the project is the best course. Discuss these possibilities with the sponsor in advance.
  • Plan around assumption validation events. You will validate assumptions such as government approvals or legislation being passed at specific times during your project. Treat these as significant milestones. Schedule meetings to confirm your plans going forward, such as modifying or cancelling the project. Communicate those potential outcomes and plans going forward with your key stakeholders. 

How do you manage project assumptions? Have you experienced any challenges not mentioned here? Have questions? Share with us in the comment section.

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

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This article belongs to the Bonnie’s Project Pointers newsletter series, which has more than 33,000 subscribers. If you like this article, you can subscribe to receive notifications when a new article posts.

Want to learn more about the topics I talk about in these newsletters? Watch my courses in the LinkedIn Learning Library and tune into my LinkedIn Office Hours live broadcasts.

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Keys to Successful Integration Projects

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Photo by Chris Hardy on Unsplash

 

The world gets more complex and intertwined, which creates more projects involving complex integrations. What is an integration? It’s when separate systems or components are brought together to build a seamless solution. For example, building a satellite means integrating a propulsion system, navigation component, scientific instruments for research, communication components, and others. Here are crucial keys to managing an integration project successfully.

  • Approach the project in four phases: Define-Decompose-Build-Recompose.
  1. Define the entire integrated solution in detail. 
  2. Decompose that solution into pieces that separate expert teams can work on. 
  3. Build the solution, where the expert teams construct those pieces (systems or components).
  4. Recompose the components or pieces into a solution. 

Less experienced project managers might try to shortcut these steps. For example, they don’t decompose the solution fully and overlook an integration element. Let’s take our satellite example. Say the communication component is combined with the scientific instruments. That could lead to overlooking the integration between the communication system and the propulsion system (so people on the ground can reposition the satellite).

  • The best management flow is Centralize – Decentralize – Recentralize. Experienced integration project managers understand that success means giving up some control.
  •  As the total solution is defined, management is centralized and controlled by the project manager. 
  • When the product is decomposed and the expert teams are working on their components, management is decentralized. The project    manager releases control. Teams still report status and risk status to the project manager. But the teams work under their own management, exercising their specialized expertise. 
  • When components are integrated (recomposed), control is re-centralized. This affirms the accuracy of integrations. It also resolves any discrepancies between the expert teams. 

You can hamper the build effort and increase time and cost if you try to exercise too much control while components are under construction.

  • Understand the start-and-stop points of each component. The project phases and management flow depend on one critical element: the clear definition of components. It’s crucial to know where each team’s responsibilities begin and end, and where the technical component integration points lie. Using our satellite example, the scientific experiments include a communication element to share the output from the research performed. The overall communication module shares those research results and other data with staff on the ground. So you need to define in detail where the communication role of the scientific experiment modules end and where the primary communication module takes over. 

Integration projects amplify the risk of errors occurring, particularly when the expert teams are not co-located. Risks expand further when multiple unrelated vendors need to come together to integrate an overall solution. Carefully define your components and integration parameters!

  • Ownership of testing needs to be defined specifically. Don’t try to ask two teams to build their individual components and be responsible to “test the integration.” That usually ends badly. Project managers need to decide who specifically will take the lead on testing each integration in the solution. Often, an independent test owner works best. This person isn’t a member of either team with integrated products. With an independent test owner, you reduce the occurrence of pre-conceived ideas about how the integration should work. Also, the independent test owner will evaluate results more objectively. 
  • Add a lot of time and money to manage integration risks. This is the most under-estimated aspect of any project. Be conservative when estimating the cost of testing and completing integrations. Add at least 50% (yes, 50%) of the cost of building the separate products that will be integrated — to accommodate testing and correcting integration. Lots of unexpected things can happen. Errors often take a lot of time and effort to resolve. It’s better to surprise stakeholders with a less costly integration event than to explain why you need more time and money to make something work. 

Have any good stories about integration projects to brag about? How about horror stories that we can all learn from? Share with us in the comment section.

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