valis houston acacia pm consulting [email protected] copyright 2008 acacia pm consulting....

Valis HoustonAcacia PM Consulting

[email protected]

Copyright 2008 Acacia PM Consulting. All rights reserved. 1

Presented to ASEE – Dallas SPIN

AgendaIntroduction to ScubaPrepare to Dive! (Planning)Breathing Underwater (Execution)How much oxygen is left? How far away

is the surface? (Metrics)When swimming with really big ugly scary

Sharks (Risk Management)But there’s an “I” in “Dive buddy” (Team

Dynamics)Becoming a Dive Master (Leadership and

being a better PM)Copyright 2008 Acacia PM Consulting. All rights reserved. 2

Introduction to ScubaSCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater

Breathing Apparatus)Physical LimitationsThings that can go wrongWhy do it?


Prepare to Dive! (Planning)General--later, President--Dwight Eisenhower put it, “In

preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.”

Use Historical information from past projects to assist in the planning of your projects

Know your boundaries / constraints Situational Personal/team

Include team members in the creation of tasks/schedule


Prepare to Dive! (Planning) Gain commitment and ensure that the person doing

the work has an understanding of tasks Communication

Agree beforehand on methods of communication for stakeholders Stakeholders => not just the project team, but impacted departments, end users, “THE” person responsible for project funding, etc.

Standardization


Breathing Underwater (Execution) Manage pieces of the project (work packages)

instead of attempting to manage the entire project at once

Immediately resolve issues / clear your team’s path of obstacles

Scope change is difficult to managemid-stream. The later the changes come, the greater the confusion & impact. Anticipate late changes!


Breathing Underwater (Execution) PM should ask questions, but spend more time

listening to your team! Make notes of what happened …

what happened well and what can be improved upon in the future

Keep the goals of the project in sightfor ALL decisions


How much oxygen is left? (Metrics) Reactive (Historical) metrics – after a problem

has occurred

Proactive/Predictive metrics – Performance Management (EVM) – allows you to foresee the problem coming and act accordingly via extrapolation


11 17

34 39

6577

8491

101116

98112

126140

154168

182196

210224

238252

156169

182195

208221

234247

260273

286299

143

285

266

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

3/8/

2004

3/10

/2004

3/12

/2004

3/14

/2004

3/16

/2004

3/18

/2004

3/20

/2004

3/22

/2004

3/24

/2004

3/26

/2004

3/28

/2004

3/30

/2004

4/1/

2004

4/3/

2004

4/5/

2004

Actual Planned

Total Projected

Metrics


1117

34 39

6577

8491

101

116

144

161 165

98

112

126

140

154

168

182

196

210

224

238

252

190201

212223

234245

256267

278289

143

179

285

266

300

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

3/8/

2004

3/10

/2004

3/12

/2004

3/14

/2004

3/16

/2004

3/18

/2004

3/20

/2004

3/22

/2004

3/24

/2004

3/26

/2004

3/28

/2004

3/30

/2004

4/1/

2004

4/3/

2004

4/5/

2004

Actual Planned

Total Projected

Metrics


1117

3439

6577

8491

101

116

144

161165

233233

98

112

126

140

154

168

182

196

210

224

238

252261

281

143

179

180184

195

230233

250

251

285

266 271

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Actual Planned

Total Projected

Metrics


How far away is the surface? (Metrics)

Doesn’t need to be called Earned Value. Stakeholders and team members are not impressed with PM lingo

Purpose is to QUICKLY highlight a problem

Then perform Root-cause analysis (Fish-bone diagrams)


When swimming with really big ugly scary Sharks (Risk Management)

Unclear dependencies (beware the empty white spaces on the Org chart)

Do not ignore Uncertainty

Know each Risk’s trigger and contingency plan


But there’s an “I” in “Dive buddy” (Team Dynamics)

Limit the number of simultaneous tasks that an individual is working on

Develop leaders and mentors within your team

People are the key to the success of your project


But there’s an “I” in “Dive buddy” (Team Dynamics)

Resources are limited. Over-allocating (above 100%) is probably a bad thing.

High degree of cooperation and collaboration

People are the key to the success of your project


Becoming a Dive Master (Leadership and becoming a better PM)

Empowerment – Does not tell people how to do their jobs

Sets a tone of trust, high expectations and enjoyment

Has high expectations of themselves and their team

Leads by example (makes things happen)

Able to cope with constantly changing conditions


Becoming a Dive Master (Leadership and being a better PM)

Gain experience – challenging projects Get certified – PMP, 6 sigma Find a mentor Be a mentor/teacher Volunteer – Be active in your profession Read / Webinars Never stop learning


FootnotesScuba diving, Wikipedia,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuba_diving#Injuries_due_to_changes_in_air_pressure

Dwight D. Eisenhower Quotes, Brainyquote, http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dwight_d_eisenhower.html


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