What the World Cup Teaches Us About Project Management

Whether you like it or not, there has been no escaping this year's World Cup. Despite the disappointment of England's untimely departure, the competition continues to dominate the front and back pages. Whilst he is nursing the pain of the USA's recent exit, our resident Yank and marketing expert Dan (Editor's note: a.k.a "Editor" heretofore) has asked me to reflect upon the “lessons learned” from Brazil 2014.

Here's a list of 10 shameless analogies to project management from this year's tournament:

The ticket to understanding elements of your project management
potential may lie in this year's World Cup(image courtesy Jorge in Brazil
via @Flickr, re-used with permission. Changes were not made to the image.)

1. The twelfth man - Whether it's been the sun, the samba or the Selecao, there's no denying that the support for this year's cup has been fantastic. Amid the hype, the USA's coach Jurgen Klinsmann gave a master-class in stakeholder engagement with his letter to America's bosses ahead of their game against Germany.
2. The death of tiki-taka - Methodologies come and go. As Spain's exit shows us, the trick is to have the flexibility to choose an approach that fits the game and gets a result. This serves as a word of warning to those always following the flavour of the month.
3. "No tactics without technique" - The English national team have once again failed to make it far on the biggest stage. Over-drilled and under-skilled, Hodgson's men proved that no matter how good the tactics, a team needs a fundamental level of competency before it has the capability to achieve its goals.
4. Beware! Underdog bites! - In a group of three former world champions, Costa Rica were the lowest risk on the register at the start of the tournament. That hasn't stopped them becoming an issue.
5. Beware! Striker bites! - What struck me about Suarez' misdemeanour was the public outrage incurred: not by the monster munch itself, but by his silence on the subject, before making an apology. Whether there's an appeal process or not on your project's evaluation, no communication is bad communication in times of crisis.
6. Home advantage - Brazil may not have been at their scintillating best so far in the tournament, but it comes as no surprise that half of the teams to reach the quarter finals are South American. Familiar working conditions, lofty aims and high expectations have undoubtedly spurred the hosts - and their neighbours - to outperform the rest of the world.
7. A game of two halves…and extra time and penalties - The number of games that have gone into extra time this year has probably been more popular with the fans than with the players due to the heat. Overtime has seen the levels of performance drop and the number of mistakes increase as legs tire and concentration is lost.
8. "Rome wasn't built in a day, but I wasn't on that particular job…" - What do 'Big Phil' Scolari, Didier Deschamps and van Gaal have in common apart from a team in the quarters? Charisma. The value of strong leadership for team work, conflict resolution, communication and - ultimately - project success, is undoubted and immeasurable in value.
9. Calamity in Qatar - Whilst Brazil seems to be getting over its teething problems, Sepp and his cronies continue to baffle with their handling of plans for the World Cup in Qatar. If you want an example of how not to do a risk assessment, how not to engage stakeholders, how not to monitor compliance, or how not to run a project: look no further!
10. On scope, on time and on budget? - Despite its successes, criticisms that will mar the legacy of the Brazilian World Cup have all come from three classic project management perspectives. First, delivering all that entails an international tournament in a country with more pressing socio-economic and political issues was the cause of the widespread riots that threatened to kill the fever of the cup. Second, spray painted turf at Fortaleza (editor's note: not to mention rickety structures) was a symptom of widespread under delivery. From the pitches, to the stadiums, to the transport infrastructure, Brazil did not come close to meeting requirements on schedule. Finally, the cost of the World Cup will ultimately be judged against the benefits that the tournament brings to the nation over the next few years. (editor's note: Against the backdrop of Rio de Janiero playing host to the next edition of the Summer Olympics, the impact could face even more scrutiny. Given what has transpired in Greece in recent years, the legacy of hosting the 2004 Summer Olympics is negligible and forgotten, especially in light of losing out on so much economically without the burden of the World Cup hosting gig to boot.) Whether the impact of this World Cup demonstrated value for money in Brazil will be a question that overshadows the tournament's place in history.

Nick Sharpe joined p3m global as a University of Exeter graduate in 2013, working in a consulting capacity to drive improvements in the Project Management methodologies of our clients. After a quick-fire induction on our Project Management Fundamentals course, and initiation into the wonders of the 'iron triangle', Nick was qualified in PRINCE2 and MS Project, and assessing clients project management frameworks. Nick has worked with clients in the recruitment, telecoms and energy sectors, and with HR, Business Services and IT departments.

Project Management: An Exercise in Common Sense

Steve Butler PMP lays out what Project Management means to him (and PM-Partners) in conjunction with the exciting Shim Marom-inspired #pmflashblog initiative. In short, Steve feels that project management requires a lot of planning, and some common sense, too.

Project management is all about change. Strip out all the latest fads, standards and gimmicks and at its heart all project management really boils down to is a risk mitigation exercise when you are trying to effect change – be it deliver a product or a service or an update.

Keep that thought at the front of your mind when managing a project, and everything becomes common sense. You are changing something, and you want to get it right. So what do you need to consider?
Well, you need to make sure "it" is the right thing…so some sort of requirements gathering exercise and scoping exercise is needed so you can hit the target. 

To do that you need to make sure you are talking to the right people to find out the right information, and to make sure you are keeping the right people up to speed with what you are doing – so some sort of communications management and stakeholder happiness plan needs to be in place. Obviously when you gather the requirements and define the scope, a budget and a timeline needs to be defined and managed, and how they progress needs to be communicated (hence having a communications plan). Within the timeline will be milestones and deliverables and some sort of mechanism for delivering them and reviewing the milestones. Part of making sure you hit the target is making sure the quality of what you are doing is acceptable, so some sort of plan to manage that is necessary.

You can think about assembling the team, and keeping them happy and efficient. If you’re not sure exactly what you’re doing, maybe deliver in bits and make sure you are heading in the right direction by regularly reviewing with someone who knows what is required. Maybe regularly review with the team to make sure they are doing the right thing and have no blockers you don’t know about. We could call that basic concept, oh I don’t know, Agile? A concept that has been around for decades, but now has a name!

Project Management – an exercise in common sense.

Steve Butler is Head of Delivery at p3m global. He was a Co-author of the PMI Standard for Portfolio Management, 3rd Edition, and has been a key contributor to other recent PMI publications, including OPM3, 3rd Ed., and Software Extension to the PMBOK® Guide Fifth Edition. earning special distinction as the only co-author based in the UK. Join the PMI Portfolio Management debate on our LinkedIn Group page - hosted by Steve - today.

The Pitfalls of Project Estimating and How to Avoid Them

Estimating is undoubtedly one of the most complex tasks in project management. There are various, damning statistics published on the failure of projects to deliver within time and/or cost and suffice to say they don’t look good. This fact remains despite the various tools and techniques at the project manager’s disposal. The list of pitfalls below is neither exhaustive nor a panacea to answering all of your estimating challenges; rather, it’s a checklist that you should keep in mind when planning and estimating.

One scenario that cannot be reconciled by the advice below is where a high level guess is made by management and expected to be adhered to without more detailed scoping and activity planning. This top-down approach can often be aligned to the "just do it" (JDI) approach – "here’s your budget, JDI". You reply, "But what about, but what about, but what about..." At this point you receive some great advice: "work harder, work smarter, work faster" Sorry, but I can’t help you there. Just remember: if any of your constraints are not balanced, then something’s gotta give.

Pitfall 1: Uninformed or partially informed Guessing or Ball parking. How much will it cost to build a five-bedroom house? The answer is, it depends:

• What is in scope?
• What size does the house need to be?
• Does it include landscaping the garden?
• Does the project include decorating and light fittings and, and…?"

Whilst all of this may seem obvious, accurate estimates are reliant upon sufficient understanding of the requirements. Be especially careful when you hear the words, "give me a ballpark now, I won’t hold you to it" – get this in writing!!! I must admit to having asked for ballparks on many occasions both for projects and in home life. I recently asked several builders how much it would cost to build a 2-storey extension of X square feet. However, when I ask for a ballpark, I accept that this is based on a very loose specification but at least it provides me with a range of figures to enable me to make an initial decision on whether to investigate further. Let’s be honest, it is also not easy to hold a builder to an estimate.

Pitfall 2: Failure to help the customer define what they want and how much they are willing to spend. Many customers have a high level understanding of what they want but are not always able to articulate the detail of what they want or more precisely what they need. It is one of the project manager’s responsibilities to help the customer to define what they want/need. The definition of requirements needs to be coupled with how much the customer is willing to spend. It would be nice to hear, "money is no object" but this is extremely rare if not non-existent. Therefore, there is no point defining the building of an ocean liner when the customer is only willing to pay for a dinghy. I have seen the results of a detailed tender which took many man hours, only to discover that the customer’s budget was a fraction of what the scope covered by the tender would have cost.

Pitfall 3: Misunderstanding quotes and estimates. A quote is a fixed price whereas an estimate is an approximation. Where a customer asks for a quote, it is essential to ensure that you fully understand what you are quoting for. In the example of the five-bedroom house above, we would need to know, amongst many, many other things, if the quote should include the decorating, landscaping of the garden and much more. So often, fixed-price contracts are agreed without sufficient investigation and definition of the requirements. Significant caution should be applied especially where you or your organisation are keen to win business. In this instance it is imperative you spend a little more time detailing and agreeing the scope at the start. The additional time spent up front could save you from a loss making project later. I have been involved in projects where the scope was not sufficiently defined and ended up costing us considerably more than it should have.

Pitfall 4: Not identifying the activities/tasks. Larger projects are very difficult to plan in detail at the start. Where this is the case it is important for all parties to understand that the margins for error are greater and therefore, the more change control and wiggle-room or tolerance that is required. Remember, the more you can break down the activities the more accurate your estimates will be. One of the biggest mistakes made is in failing to identify project management activities required to deliver the project. This includes not only the Project Managers activities but those of the teams such as reporting progress, meetings, phone calls and emails. Consider researching Maximum Available Productivity (MAP) to get a better understanding of how much of a day is spent on project work and how much on other tasks. I was involved in a project where the customer was a global organisations and the business we did with them very important to the company. Prior to joining the project a fixed-price had been agreed. The deliverables had not been sufficiently defined and so what may have been initially envisaged and what the customer wanted were a little out of sync. In addition, whilst the key stakeholder was great to deal with, they were very particular and would ask for multiple minor changes after the initial review rounds. Some would only take an hour or so but when you add in the emails, phone calls, meetings, reformatting and other activities, it adds up to quite a significant number of days.

Pitfall 5: Good Padding and Bad Padding. Before you shout, "no, padding should be allowed, it is always bad", let me clarify what I mean. Good padding is taking into account activities that do not easily sit on a projects schedule and that these need to be allowed for when estimating. Bad padding is where a PM automatically adds time so as to come under budget knowing that the quote is excessively padded. Whilst this may work on one or two projects you will eventually get caught out. I am usually a cautious PM as previous experience has shown me that to immediately agree to time and cost estimates without fully understanding each deliverable and the tasks, is at best poor and for experienced project manager's, dare I say it, unprofessional. This pitfall should be considered with almost all of the other pitfalls in this post.

Pitfall 6: Failure to learn lessons. I think it is fair to say that there are many project managers that research lessons from similar past projects. However, in my experience, sadly these are in the minority. It is imperative that you look to lessons learned from similar past projects to ensure that you learn not only estimating errors but other issues that you may be able to avoid and that will save you time and money. Learning lessons is equally important during your project, especially if it is a long and/or a multi-staged project. Lessons from earlier work can be applied to estimating future tasks to ensure improved accuracy. I have worked for companies that make the same mistake time after time and wonder why there projects are always over time and budget.

Pitfall 7: Not knowing a reasonable cost. There may be elements of work on the project hat are unfamiliar to you and your team and that require the services of an external supplier. Where this is the case, you need to ensure you do your homework and know what a fair rate is. I was looking on eBay recently for fuel containers, and was amazed at how the price differed for precisely the same container. The lowest price was £9.99 and the highest £29.99. I am serious, this was for exactly the same product.

Pitfall 8: Failing to include the subject matter expert (SME). It is essential to include the SME when estimating. After all, they will be the ones that know the work or managing the work and therefore, their invaluable experience is a crucial input when planning and preparing estimates. I have experienced both the good and the bad. In one organisation I worked for, bids from sales would include input from the experienced project manager and SMEs to ensure an accurate quote was provided. In other organisations, the sales and other management have decided on a time and cost without full consultation with the SME. This actually resulted in the deliverables taking longer and ultimately costing the supplier more money. One reason for this may be that their ego dictates that they should know. Why should they know? A manger will not always understand the minutia to create a deliverable and should make the use of the experience of their team. Good managers and leaders understand that no one has a monopoly on ideas and utilises and publicises ideas from within their team.

Pitfall 9: Failing to allow for bias, pessimistic and optimistic. The project manager needs to be aware of their own bias and that of management and the project team. Pessimistic bias is where an individual tends to add additional time as they always consider it will take more time or something will go wrong. Let's not malign this character too readily. They often have valid reasons for this approach, most likely gained form the experience of the JDI approach mentioned above or they can see vast chasms in the detailing of the scope. This needs to be balanced against the Optimistic bias or "rose coloured spectacles". This happy-go-lucky character tends to believe that everything is easy or simple and that more can be achieved than is realistic. An example is where an SME is asked how long it will take to perform a number of activities. They quote based on them performing the task and in perfect conditions, without considering the experience of the individual(s) involved in performing the task. The most dangerous of the optimists are those that want to be seen to have a "can do attitude". A "can do attitude" is essential for a project manager, but as with many of these thrown-around terms, it needs to be balanced with realism. I recall one particular colleague that would always say, "Oh, I can knock that up in a couple of days". Whilst this was occasionally achieved, it was rare for the original estimate to be met. They also had a high sick rate without having any specific medical condition. There is also the poor soul who wants to impress and so underquotes with the intention of working almost 24/7. Invariably, this person will burn out and again watch their sick record.

In conclusion, estimating is a tough challenge. This post is not intended to cover all potential estimating pitfalls, but does provide you with a list of what I have found to be some of the main problems in estimating. Keep these in mind and with the use of this advice and the right estimating techniques and tools, I am convinced your estimating will improve.

 

Derek Bland is Project Management Consultant & Trainer at p3m global. His experience includes consultancy on design and delivery of bespoke Project Management methods, conducting Project Audits and advising PMs on best practice improvements. As a trainer, Derek has worked in PRINCE2 and MSP environments and delivered on a variety of project management courses.

Project Neglect: Four Overlooked Tasks for Starting Projects

I'd like to focus on four tasks from the start of a project that are often neglected or performed superficially, but done well can make a key difference to the smooth running of the project.
 

1. Risk identification and analysis

Getting a project started is rarely as easy as it appears - especially when your appreciation for the four taks discussed at let is, at best, cosmetic. Image courtesy Todd Dailey (twid) @Flickr, re-used with permission.

Early risk identification is key to project success. The high level risks should be identified as part of the bid response process, along with their potential impacts on the project scope, timescales and costs. This information can then be used to update the business case for the project and to tailor the bid response appropriately. The project risks may significantly impact the business case; in extreme cases the risk identification may cause the project bid to be cancelled.
In planning, a full risk identification exercise should be carried out with the project team and input also sought from the project stakeholders.
This provides early visibility of potential risks and their impacts. The project manager then has the information to run the project in a way that reduces the likelihood of their occurrence and mitigates their impact.
 
2. Stakeholder identification and analysis
A key measure of project success is the satisfaction of the project stakeholders. The project can deliver the required deliverables, on time and in budget, yet still be considered a failure if the stakeholders are unhappy with the outcome. Equally, projects that were late and over budget can still be perceived as successful if the stakeholders are satisfied. It is therefore vitally important to identify all the project stakeholders when initiating the project and to document their interests, impact and communication needs. The stakeholders can then be appropriately engaged during the project life-cycle, maximising their satisfaction with the project.
 
3. Complexity analysis
A project complexity level can be obtained by analysing criteria such as the project price, technical complexity and clarity of the scope. Defining a complexity level for a project enables selection of a suitably experienced project manager and appropriate internal governance. The complexity level also determines the project management effort and documentation to be specified, included in the contract and communicated to the customer. This communication is vital. Project management effort and documentation are often poorly defined, yet where the customer clearly understands what they will receive then the potential for conflict over the scope is considerably reduced.
 
4. Quality planning
Checking that the project deliverables have appropriate acceptance testing is highly important, but this testing by itself should nor form the entirety of the project quality management. There is a significant omission; the quality of the project management must also be planned, monitored and controlled. The quality of the project management can be determined through actions such as reviews of the project by the steering committee and customer satisfaction surveys. Quality processes appropriate to the project should be defined during project planning, and included in the project schedule to ensure that they are carried out. The quality of the whole project is then measured, understood, and if necessary, can be corrected and lessons learned documented for future projects.

Katharine Thornber is a Project Management Consultant for PM-Partners. Her track record has allowed Katharine to develop particular expertise in matters related to product management, project management, programme management and engineering. Katharine is PRINCE2 certified and has worked previously in the telecommunications industry. For more on her blog posts and other posts from the P3M Blog, be sure to connect with our group on LinkedIn.

PRINCE2: 2009 - Five Years On

PRINCE2® is the de facto standard for project management developed by the UK government, used in the UK and across the world. Developed by project management specialists and a review panel of public and private sector organisations (whilst taking into account user based improvements), it has grown into a tailorable best practice tool that is suitable for use on any project.

As the PRINCE2: 2009 update approaches its 5th Anniversary, AXELOS want your feedback on making it better.

Photo courtesy giulia.forsythe @Flickr, and reused with permission.

The last edition was published in 2009 which represented an evolution of the previous manuals. The basic method remained the same, but by building on feedback from users, the 2009 edition aimed to be more accessible and easier to tailor. For project sponsors or directors, this represented a revolution in that the guidance was divided into two;

- Managing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 for project managers and;
- Directing Successful Projects with PRINCE2 to give project board members a role-specific guide targeted for their needs.

Now after five years the guidance is due for a revision.

AXELOS, the new joint venture between the UK Government’s Cabinet Office and Capita plc, are currently hosting a survey on PRINCE2®, from which they will analyse the results and validate with the user community. They will then seek to involve Accredited Training Organizations (like us) and User Communities in the process to formulate plans around the need and nature of any revisions to the guidance.

If you have not as yet completed the survey, you may do so at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HGQT27N. The survey should take about 40 minutes to complete, depending on how many comments that are left.

Mike Austin is the Lead Trainer for p3m global. His track record is that of a highly motivated Project Management Trainer who has an outstanding understanding of the PRINCE2® methodology and M_o_R® management of risk methodology and the ability to successfully communicate it to others. Get in touch with Mike via email today.

The London Olympics 2012: A View on Lesson's Learned

The Olympics 2012 are nearly upon us. Of course the fact that it is right on our doorstep this year makes it all the more exciting. We expect 205 nations to take part in 300 events and 147 nations will take part in the Paralympic Games. The Olympic Delivery Authority is highly focused on the immovable deadline of 27th July 2012 and effective risk management in the preparation and run up to the event. They will have been relying on lessons learned from the previous events in Beijing, Sydney and Athens to ensure that similar mistakes are not repeated and any successes are realised early on. Here we look at project management in a large scale operation like the Olympics and the importance of acting on lessons learned.

Lessons learned surrounding the Olympics will include the need for thorough requirement gathering, documenting developments and clarity surrounding measures applied to the workforce data and scoping development changes. There is also a need to demonstrate the effectiveness of interventions, the need for independent audit, and the importance of clear communication surrounding the point of data capture and effective escalation procedures.

The ultimate goal of any project however is to execute and deliver whatever has been planned and promised – on time and within budget and scope. The challenges of delivery will always be present regardless of how conscientious we have been in anticipating possible scenarios and events. Thus, failure at some point is something that is inevitable.

The likes of Usain Bolt can relate to Derry Simmel's words: Time spent in doing the work better is time well spent.

In his book "Lessons Learned: Why Don't we Learn From Them?" board member of the PMI’s PMO SIG, Derry Simmel states "Time spent in doing the work better is time well spent". This statement supports that getting it right the first time is cheaper and easier than doing it and then fixing it later. If we accept that lessons from past projects are indeed useful then we can prevent the same problems occurring in future projects. The challenge is encouraging organisations to create a lessons learned culture where people not only take the trouble to learn from past projects, but actually want to learn - a culture where we apply best practices and discard bad ones.

If project managers are going to actively contribute to the project management knowledge within an organisation and make use of it, it's important to have a well-defined and simple process for collecting, collating, analysing, disseminating and acting upon lessons learned. Here we have a few suggestions:

Discover – Project teams should learn to identify lessons during projects and record them for inclusion in a lessons learned report at the end of the project. It is also important to note that lessons learned should be leveraged during the life cycle of the project, for example at phase boundaries as well as at the end so the project has a chance to learn from its own lessons. Lessons can be discovered by asking these three questions:

• What went right?
• What went wrong?
• What could have been better?

Recommend – Project managers and their teams should make recommendations. What would they do differently if they could go back and start over again? This needs a degree of honesty and the feedback needs to be constructive in order to understand how things could be done better in the future. Lessons learned need to be applied into our daily lives of managing projects as we move forward.

Document and Share – It is important to document and share findings. The best way to do this is by creating a standard lessons learned report and a repository with good meta-data to help with identification. This should be kept updated with lessons from the most recent projects in order to take account of the current working environment, structures and constraints.

Review – It is the job of the Project Management Office (PMO) to review lessons learned reports and pull out issues that arise multiple times. The PMO must look at what makes projects succeed and what makes them fail, and give recommendations that sit alongside those of the project teams.

Store and Retrieve – Lessons learned must be stored in a central repository with general access. Project managers should be expected to retrieve and review lessons prior to commencing a project. They should have this as part of their annual performance objectives and be able to demonstrate they have retrieved, reviewed and applied lessons wherever applicable.

Act – It is all very well capturing and storing lessons learned but if no-one takes responsibility for acknowledging or acting on them then the process of documenting the lessons becomes pointless and redundant. Acting on lessons learnt is the key to learning from previous mistakes and making significant improvements to the project in hand.

Lessons Learnt From Previous Olympics – With regards to our own Olympic Games in London, there will be ample opportunity for short term gain. Both the Beijing and Sydney Olympic Games taught us not to be fooled by the location of the Games and assume it will only affect the east of London; it is likely day to day activities will be affected throughout the whole of London and surrounding areas. Rising rents in London have already been picked up on by the UK press, and no doubt rents in and around East London will continue to rise as demand will be elevated. Although, whilst taking advantage of a short term gain looks tempting, it is important to bear in mind that there will probably be a big fall on the other side.

In Sydney and Beijing, roads and transport suffered the greatest impact due to closures and the amount of traffic causing delays. Similarly transport problems remain "one of the biggest risks" to the 2012 Olympic Games according to a London Assembly report (April 2011). Dedicated temporary lanes, similar in appearance and function to bus lanes, will be assigned for the use of official Olympic vehicles and emergency services only. The level of London traffic needs to be taken into account when organising travel and the likelihood is that journey time frames will need to be extended.

The projects related to the London Olympic Games are continuously providing new lessons worth learning. p3m global, located on the sunny south coast, are lucky in the fact that they are not only just an hour from the main Olympic events in London but are also close by to the sailing that will be taking place in Weymouth. The coastline and popular New Forest area is renowned for its traffic jams and tail backs during the busy summer period and that is without the addition of a popular Olympic event being based in the region. It is true to say that the transport delay risk will inevitably extend outside of London in July and August and we will therefore be learning from this lesson and planning our journey times accordingly.

Off the topic of transport, it has been reported that UK immigration is already starting to get busier due to processing Olympic-related applications, which include those related to tourists, business, sports and entertainment. There may also be an increase in employment-related visas for companies who are supporting the Olympics and need to temporarily relocate their employees to the UK. In line with current practice, advance planning is advised where possible and UK visas should be applied for within three months before the date of travel.

Looking more specifically at the London 2012 construction programme, there are already a number of themes emerging which have been recorded for future projects. We must recognise that no two megaprojects are the same and that programme-specific characteristics will inevitably shape the appropriate organisational structure and management style. For example, the London 2012 construction programme contained a wide variety of individual projects (requiring a flexible approach to project procurement and contracting). Nevertheless, there are four key lessons that have been identified by the Olympic Delivery Authority*:

• Invest in comprehensive project and programme management processes. Stay in the right lane to learn lessons given by previous projects.
• Find a way to create an intelligent and broad-capability client.
• Secure 'full funding' (having a realistic programme to work from helps to create the right culture from the off);
• Invest in human resources and organisational development – to build skills, relationships and a supportive culture.
• Creation of a successful lessons learned culture needs leadership support as well as time and buy-in from project managers. Implementation of a simple process for collecting, collating, analysing and disseminating lessons learned is essential if it's to be adopted.

Once lessons have been captured, they need to be made available to all project teams to help them avoid repeating problems of the past. It is important that these teams understand what past projects have to tell them and act upon that information. History has a strange way of repeating itself. If we don't take the time to learn the lessons of the past, and moreover act upon them, we will continue to commit the same project management sins again and again.

Project management is a game of endurance, persistence and vision. The factors to "win" at project management are not dissimilar from those required to win a race at the Olympics. The athletes taking part in the London 2012 will have trained hard, set tangible targets and goals, managed their schedule, assessed the risks, learnt from their mistakes, capitalised on what works well and tried to avoid anything that led to past failure. The stakes and stress levels are high and team morale plays a vital role in crossing the finish line.

There is little difference between running a good race and running a good project. Success is the result of having a plan and the determination to do something to the best of our ability. Without having to learn, growth cannot not be achieved and whilst it often takes time, energy and determination, no victory is sweeter than one you have had to work hard for.

*Source: Lessons Learned from the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games Construction Programme – Ian Mackensie 7 Andrew Davies

This blog post was published on the PM-Partners Blog 12^th June 2012.

Helen Carter served previously as a Consultant at p3m global (then known as PM-Partners EMEA). She now works as a project manager for Zurich Insurance.

A New Day Awaits With p3m global

We're heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrre!
Project people, get ready - it's time to empower your business change potential and optimise your delivery capabilities.
We are p3m global - project, programme and portfolio management for empowering change & optimising delivery.

10 Reasons Why Project Management is like Cricket

It is the time of year when, all over the English countryside, you can start to hear the gentle thwack of leather on willow in the parks, beside the pubs and on the village greens. With the recent success of the England Cricket Team and the advent of the domestic cricket season my thoughts turn to some of the similarities it shares with another great love of mine (or profession, at least), project management.

The obvious first thing is that nobody understands either of them! Cricket is famed for its complex nature and very few people understand the true scope and value of what a project manager does. But here's a light-hearted look at how they compare in other ways:

1. There are clear boundaries – Round the edge of the field the difference between 1&2 runs and 4 or 6 runs is a clearly defined boundary. Similarly your projects should have a crystal clear scope so there is no dispute over what has or hasn't been delivered.
2. You have limited resources – The fielding team only has 11 men to deploy around the field. The Captain must balance these resources to achieve the best results. He must make sure his best people are in the most critical positions, such as the slips, but needs also account for the risk of a stray ball to long-on. Similarly a PM needs to allocate their best resources to the most critical tasks but be ready to divert them to troublesome areas in the project. It's also important to balance the portfolio. The captain and selectors must balance the team in the right way to achieve their goals. When selecting a team this involves finding the right ratio of bowlers to batsmen or slow and steady run accumulators to aggressive and free-scoring impact players. This is similar to the role of the project portfolio manager trying to pick the right mix of projects in the portfolio to spread risk and maximise return on investment.
3. You must play to your strengths - The captain may set one type of field if they are using a fast bowler and a different type of field if they are using a spin bowler. Bowlers can seldom bat well and vice versa. Similarly, a PM must organise the project around the strengths of his team. The PM may need some good all-rounders in the team to cope with all situations.
4. There are formulae and methods - In the Earned Value Method (EVM) the To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI) bears a striking resemblance to the run-rate calculations from the Duckworth-Lewis Method (D/L) used in one day cricket. (Too technical, anyone……?)
5. There are phases and milestones – The most successful cricket teams understand that a test match goes through many different phases and these are punctuated by milestones such as wickets, declarations, lunch or taking the new ball which, when used properly, can turn the tide of the match. Similarly the PM must divide their project into clear phases to maintain control and use milestones wisely to motivate the focus their team.
6. You have to consider your environment – Just as a cricket captain must take into account the weather, the humidity, the texture and condition of the pitch, the nature of the crowd and the direction of the wind, the PM must analyse their project environment, including the culture of the organisation, the attitude to authority, working times and to project management maturity in general.
7. Risk is everywhere, and must be managed – Right from outcome of the coin toss, to the clumsy sweep from your cavalier batsman through to an uncertain hope that the ball will swing in the attack, the cricketer is constantly calculating risk exposure and coming up with strategies and workarounds to deal with it. Similarly, the project manager must plan for risk and constantly anticipate, review and react to it throughout the whole project life cycle.
8. There's Padding – Quite obviously in cricket, but it's less welcome in project management. Rather than using padding as a substitute for risk management by building arbitrary buffers around key milestones, contingency reserves should be estimated and traced back to specific risks and assumptions made and calculated by the project management team. In cricket it's there to make sure that an LBW call doesn't result in a trip to casualty.
9. It often comes down to the wire – This is a trait most often seen in limited overs games where similar run rates dictate that an entire day's play can be decided by the final ball, as seen in last season's Twenty20 cup final. The trick, like a good PM when faced with an immovable deadline, is to stick to the game plan and keep up the motivation and focus of the team, perhaps trading off some risk to meet the key constraints facing it. A surge in effort to a committed goal will often win the day.
10. In the end it's all about people – As 9 demonstrates, you may have a well-defined project process or a well-coached batting technique but it's the people in your team that make it happen on the day in the face of all obstacles. When the project reaches a critical stage will your people want to play for you? Do they 'want it enough?' Do they know what's expected of them and are they motivated to go beyond it? Understanding how to get the most from your people and having them committed to a common goal is the key ingredient to success; on or off the pitch.

This post was originally published on the blog for the PM-Partners website, 26th May 2011

Ray Mead is Founder/Director of p3m global. Reach out to him on LinkedIn today, or to p3m global on their company and/or group pages.