Five Project Management Mistakes (Cotd.)

Mistake #2: Poor scope management practices

Managing scope is one of the most critical aspects of managing a project. However, if you have not done a good job of defining scope, managing scope will be almost impossible. The purpose of defining scope is to clearly describe and gain agreement on the logical boundaries and deliverables of your project. The business requirements are gathered to provide more detail on the characteristics of the deliverables.

Defining scope means that you have defined the project boundaries and deliverables, and the product requirements. These should all be approved by your sponsor.  

The project manager and project team must realize that there is nothing wrong with changing scope - as long as the change is managed. If you cannot accommodate change, the final solution may be less valuable than it should be, or it may, in fact, be unusable.

Every project should have a process in place to manage change effectively. The process should include identifying the change, determining the business value of the change, determining the impact on the project and then taking the resulting information to the project sponsor for their evaluation. The sponsor can determine if the change should be included. If it is included, then the sponsor should also understand the impact on the project, and allocate the additional budget and time needed to include the change.

The most common problems with scope change management are:
 

• Not having the baseline scope approved, which makes it difficult to apply scope change management.
• Not managing small scope changes leaving yourself open to "scope creep".
• Not documenting all changes - even small ones.
• Having the project manager make scope change decisions instead of the sponsor (or designee).

If you find that your project is starting to trend over its budget and schedule, try to find the cause. In many cases you will find that you are simply taking on more work than you originally agreed to. If you do not have a good scope change process in place, it is never too late to start.

Five Project Management Mistakes

Have you ever attended an end-of-project meeting on a project that had major problems? If you have, chances are that one of the major themes you will hear is that “we should have spent more time planning.”

Five Project Management Mistakes

#1: Inadequate Planning

I have heard project managers say that the time they spend planning could be better spent actually "doing the work". This is not right. Before the project work begins, the project manager must make sure that the work is properly understood and agreed to by the project sponsor and key stakeholders. The larger the project, the more important it is that this information be defined formally and explicitly. When you think about it, many project problems can be traced to problems in planning. These include

• Poor estimates based on not understanding the totality of the work.
• Lack of scope change management because scope was not properly defined to begin with.
• Issues occurring because of poor risk management.
• Missing work because the schedule is not thought out.
• Not understanding all the stakeholders involved.

It should not be surprising, then, that the best way to avoid this problem is to do a good job of planning the project up-front. There are four main components to the planning process.

• Defining the work. You need to understand the nature of the project including objectives, scope, assumptions, risks, budget, timeline, organization and overall approach.
• Understanding the schedule. You should create a  project schedule before the project starts. This is needed to help you determine how to complete the work, and to estimate the total project effort and duration.
• Estimating costs. You and the sponsor need a good estimate of costs before the project gets going.  
• Agree on project management processes. This will include how the project manager will manage scope, issues, risks, communication, schedule, etc.

People ask me how much time it takes to complete the project planning. The answer is "sufficient". You need to spend the time to define the work, create a schedule, estimate the costs and set up the project management processes. If your project is small, this should not take much time. If your project is large the planning may take a log time. In other words, planning is scalable based on the size of the project.

Spending time on good planning ends up taking much less time and effort than having to correct the problems while the project is underway. We all know this to be the case. We just need to practice this on our projects. 

Cont.. 

Benefits of Project Management Training

Four Benefits of Project Management Training

The following are five reasons training is invaluable to you as a project manager.

#1 – Training Keeps You Engaged

Are you feeling a little sluggish on the job? Do you dread the ride into work each morning thinking about the long and boring day ahead of you? Training dispels the monotony. Take a course about an aspect of project management that really interests you. It may be risk management, agile methodologies, or root cause analysis. Deepening your knowledge in areas of interest will shake up your otherwise normal routine and get you excited about your job again.

#2 – Training Helps Your Career

Most professional certifications require an ongoing commitment to training and education. While this takes time, the upside is that it comes with real financial value. For example, a PMP certified project manager will make an average of $10,000 more per year than their non-certified counterpart. Keep your training current and an eye on your employment landscape and you’ll find yourself doing very well.

Current and potential employers like to see an ongoing pursuit of education. It helps them appreciate you as a lifelong learner who has followed a particular niche or specialty in your project management career.

#3 – Training Introduces New Ideas

You will always pick up something new when you attend a project management training course, simply because the discipline of learning temporarily removes you from your situation and gives you an aerial, objective view. For example, even experienced project managers learn new ideas and techniques attending a fundamentals class. They learn new ways of doing things they are already familiar with.

Training allows your experience and new learning to come together and provide a more holistic perspective than ever before. These nuggets of wisdom may not always be groundbreaking or revolutionary, but they are new. When you go to a training course with this mindset, you will come back with faster, more efficient and profitable ways to complete projects to share with your peers.

#4 – Training Exposes You to Other People

Most classes allow you to interact with new people. Maybe it even allows you to interact with current co-workers in new ways. It’s valuable to get out of your office or cubicle every now and then and see what the rest of the world is up to, and talk to your peers. The relationships you forge with your instructor, the person sitting next to you, or even someone you meet in an elevator can help you throughout the rest of your career in project management.

Tips for Project Communication

4 Tips for Project Communication

In a project environment, the circulation of unofficial information and rumors is enough to make heads spin. We set up official communication plans that detail who knows what and when, but struggle with managing the unofficial information. The following are tips to stop the confusion and manage the grapevine effectively:

Tip 1 - Become Part of the Grapevine
People love talking about what goes on within their work environment. The grapevine truly does exist in all companies. Assume the projects you manage are one part of that conversation, insert yourself into it and ask people what they are hearing about your projects. Is there any news from above? Are resources happy? Then, be sure to add your own facts into the mix. A little bit of accurate information never hurt anyone.

Tip 2 - Combat Negative Messages with Facts
Negative communication sometimes gets spun into a mile-long email thread. Inaccurate information and intensity of emotion continue to escalate the longer the email thread grows. The best antidote to negative communication is to get the facts out there as quickly as possible. Compose a thoughtful and precise "Reply All" with a handful of relevant facts to get everyone in sync. Then, kill the thread and take it offline.

Tip 3 - Stop the Bad Press
Most talk on the grapevine is harmless, primarily serving as an interesting diversion during a long day at work. People don't really pay that much attention to it. However, innocuous gossip can turn into hurtful and malicious slander. You need to track down the source of that information immediately and make it stop. Find out why someone feels compelled to put forth such negative propaganda about your project and deal with it face-to-face.

Tip 4 - Fill the Vacuum
You may have projects that aren't impacted by negative communication. However, you are left with a vacuum of communication. It's up to you to fill this void with positive and factual information about your project. Send out pertinent emails, give appropriate updates at company meetings, and have one-off conversations. That way, people will really have something to talk about when your project gets tangled up in the grapevine.

- Uday

Seven Techniques for Gathering Requirements

  Seven Techniques for Gathering Requirements

1. One-on-one interviews
The most common technique for gathering requirements is to sit down with the clients and ask them what they need. 

2. Group interviews
These are similar to the one-on-one interview except that there is more than one person being interviewed. Group interviews require more preparation and more formality to get the information you want from all the participants.

3. Facilitated sessions
In a facilitated session, you bring a larger group together for a common purpose. In this case, you are trying to gather a set of common requirements from the group in a faster manner than if you were to interview each of them separately. 

4. JAD sessions
Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions are similar to general facilitated sessions. However, the group typically stays in the session until a complete set of requirements is documented and agree to. 

5. Questionnaires
These are good tools to gather requirements from stakeholders in remote locations or those that will have only minor input into the overall requirements. It can also be the only practical way to gather requirements from dozens, hundreds or thousands of people.

6. Prototyping
Prototyping is a way to build an initial version of the solution – a prototype. You show this to the client, who then gives you additional requirements.

7. Following people around
This is especially helpful when gathering information on current processes. You may need to watch people perform their job before you can understand the entire picture. In some cases, you might also like to participate in the actual work process to get a hands-on feel for how the business function works today.

The Benefits of Using a PM Methodology

The Benefits of Using a PM Methodology

If you are currently using a project management methodology or considering implementing one in your company, consider the following four benefits of having such a roadmap to follow.

Reason 1: It Increases the Chances of Project Success

Failure always lurks on the fringes when something new is tried. That's what makes being a project manager so exciting. Your job is to keep failure at bay and prevent it from negatively impacting your projects. But, there are enough variables that could cause problems for your project that the methodology that you use should never be one of them. In fact, having a project management methodology in place will absolutely increase the chances of your project succeeding.

Why is this? Because a methodology is a tried and true way of getting your projects done. Following a certain methodology ensures that all the necessary steps are taken, no shortcuts are introduced, and the work is done to the highest standard that the company can perform. Following such a well-thought out road map is certain to increase the chances of your project making it successfully to completion.

Reason 2: It Increases the Amount of Time Available to Spend on Work

What happens at times in companies is that multiple methodologies may be introduced across different groups. This is a natural evolution that occurs as departments grow and projects need to be complete. One department may adopt a waterfall methodology where one phase of the project needs to be 100% complete before moving into the next phase of the project. Other departments may adopt a more agile form of project management where the understanding is that the requirements and needs of the customer will unfold along the way and become clearer as the project progresses.

Each methodology may work just fine for each department. But, there will always be the need for resources to be shared amongst departments. This may introduce confusion when a resource has to switch from one PM methodology to the next and they need to be trained on their new methodology. Having one clear, consistent project management methodology in place throughout the entire company will reduce the need for training people in different methodologies and increase the time that they can spend doing the actual work.

Reason 3: It Eliminates Choices Where None are Required

There's an interesting phenomenon that occurs when decisions need to be made on a project. There is usually less input given into large, complicated decisions than there is for decisions that are routine and simple. Why does this occur? Because most people aren't necessarily familiar with the subject and background surrounding the large, complicated decisions but they are familiar with the context of the smaller and more routine decisions. This causes everyone to want to chime in and give their two cents worth to the discussion about the smaller decisions.

A project management methodology eliminates this phenomenon from occurring. All the small decisions that needed to have been made have been made ahead of time. The results of these decisions have been included in the methodology and become part of the roadmap for everyone to follow. This allows teams to educate themselves on the bigger decisions and issues and provide input in those areas that really matter.

Reason 4: It Allows for Consistent Reporting and Analysis

When you look in the dictionary there are usually 2 or 3 definitions for the same word. There's nothing wrong with that because it's the context of the conversation that aids in the final understanding of the proper definition. Reporting and Analysis on project progress and results do not have the same luxury. The terminology that is used in these reports must be consistent across the board or confusion will result.

Here's a great example that most project managers are well too familiar with... What is the definition of "done?" If you ask a developer, "done" is defined as he has finished his part of the coding and is moving on to his next task. This is regardless of whether it has been tested or not and may have to be sent back to the developer for more rework. On the other hand, a client's definition of "done" may be that the software he has paid for has been up and running in his company for 3 months and all the bugs have been ironed out.

A project management methodology will introduce just one definition for the word "done"...and other words for that matter which allows for consistent, meaningful, and actionable reports across the organization.

How to Scope your Projects

How to Scope your Projects

The "project scope" consists of all of the things that must be produced to complete a project. These 'things' are called deliverable and you need to describe them in depth as early in the project as possible, so everyone knows what needs to be produced. Take these 5 Steps to scope your projects:

Step 1: Set the Direction
Start off by setting the direction for the project. Do you have an agreed Project Vision, Objectives and Time frames? Are they specified in depth and has your customer agreed to them? Does everyone in the project team truly understand them and why they are important? Only by fixing the project direction can you truly fix the project scope.

Step 2: Scope Workshops
The best way to get buy-in to your project scope is to get all of the relevant stakeholders to help you define it. So get your project sponsor, customer and other stakeholders in a room and run a workshop to identify the scope. What you want from them is an agreed set of major deliverables to be produced by the project. You also want to know "what's out of scope".

Run the workshop by asking each stakeholder for a list of the deliverable they expect the project team to deliver. Take the full list of deliverable generated in the workshop and get them to agree on what's mandatory and what's optional. Then ask them to prioritize the list, so you know what has to be delivered first.

Step 3: Fleshing it out
You now have an agreed list of deliverable. But it's still not enough. You need to define each deliverable in depth. Work with the relevant people in your business to describe how each deliverable will look and feel, how it would operate and how it would be supported etc. Your goal here is to make it so specific that your customer cannot state later in the project that "when they said this, they really meant that".

Step 4: Assessing Feasibility
So you now have a detailed list and description of every deliverable to be produced by your project, in priority order and separated as mandatory / optional. Great! But is it feasible to achieve within the project end date? Before you confirm the scope, you need to review every deliverable in the list and get a general indication from your team as to whether they can all be completed before your project end date. If they can't, then which deliverables can you remove from the list to make your end date more achievable?

Step 5: Get the thumbs up
Present the prioritized set of deliverable to your Project Sponsor and ask them to approve the list as your project scope. Ask them to agree to the priorities, the deliverable descriptions and the items out of scope.

By getting formal sign-off, you're in a great position to be able to manage the project scope down the track. So when your Sponsor says to you in a few weeks time "Can you please add these deliverable to the list?", you can respond by saying "Yes, but I'll either have to remove some items from the list to do it, or extend the project end date. Which is it to be?". You can easily manage your Sponsors expectations with a detailed scope document at your side.

The scope document is the Project Manager's armor. It protects them from changes and makes them feel invincible!

- Uday Mahajan

How to Write a Project Proposal

How to Write a Project Proposal

1. Start with a Workshop

Start by getting the key sponsors, customers and team members together and running a workshop to identify what the requirements of the project are and the ideal solution is.

By running a workshop, it makes it much easier to set a Vision for the project so that you have a clear direction going forward. Without knowing the project requirements, solution and vision you have no chance of delivering your project successfully.

2. Define the Roadmap

You then need to create a roadmap for the project by creating a generic schedule that must be adhered to. In your schedule, include all of the high-level activities that need to be done as well as any key tasks that are critical to success. Then add due dates to the activities and tasks so that you know roughly what must be completed and by when.

This is a high level roadmap, not a detailed project plan so it should take you no more than a few hours to complete.

Then take the roadmap to your project sponsor or boss and get them to agree to it. Only once they have agreed should you proceed with the next step.

3. It's all about the deliverables:

Then take the solution that was agreed in the workshop and break it down into discrete deliverables with the theory that when all of the deliverables have been produced, your project will be complete.

Define those deliverables in a little depth, so that it's not easy for people to argue what they are, when the project kicks off in full.

Having well defined deliverables will help you manage the scope of the project, as well as introduce change control along the way.

4. Your Resources and Budget

You then need to identify the resources and budget that are needed to produce the deliverables you've identified above.

List all of the people, equipment and materials that you need (at a helicopter level) and once you've identify the cost of those resources, add those costs up to calculate your project "budget".

Most people like to add an extra 10-20% contingency to their budget, to allow for unexpected issues that may arise during the project.

5. Reporting and Ownership

It's critical that you clearly communicate the status of the project in a timely fashion when your project kicks off, so describe how you're going to do that.

Will you have regular team meetings, customer presentations and status reports manually, or will you rely on using an online system for your reporting needs?

And finally, list the key success criteria for the project so that everyone knows how success will be measured when the project is complete.

- Uday Mahajan.

How to Collaborate on Projects

Hi uday

To deliver on time, your team need to collaborate by working together. As the saying goes "No man is an island" so you must work together as a team to achieve a common goal. Read on to learn...

How to Collaborate on Projects

Give them a Common Purpose

The first step is to set the direction for the project by writing a Project Charter. This document describes the scope of the project, the goals to be met and the timeframes for delivery.

Present your Project Charter to your team over lunch, describing what it is that they must deliver and by when. Then you can ensure that "everyone is on the same page". Remember, collaboration is all about bringing individuals together to form a team. By giving them a common direction, you're already on the right track.

Pair them up to Work Together

Then write your Project Plan and assign multiple people to the same tasks where appropriate, pairing them up to work together.

That way, your team are forced to work together on common tasks, helping them to overcome any previous boundaries or communication difficulties.

Make sure people only do work that is "on the plan", so you can stay within scope. That way, your team won't fragment with different directions appearing all over the place. Remember you need to create "one boat, one team, all rowing in the same direction"!

Give them the Right Tools

Incentivize your team to work together by giving them a toolset that allows them to:

• Store all their files online in one place.
• Discuss project tasks, issues and timeframes
• Message one-another when they need to
• See each others activity so they know what's happening
• View tasks, calendars and plans online
  
  Promote Collaboration

Having a great tool set is certainly a step in the right direction. You also need to promote collaboration within your team personally. Reward and recognize great collaboration behavior when you see it. If you see team members communicating effectively online then reward them for it, in front of the team.

By giving your team a solid direction, the right tools at their fingertips and reinforcing great behavior, you can take a defragmented group of individuals and turn them on to the high performing team quickly.

So there you have it.

- Uday Mahajan

How to create A Project Methodology

How to create A Project Methodology

If you want to build a project methodology from the ground level up, then take these 3 steps to do it: 

Step 1: Identify your Needs
The first step is to define your requirements for a project methodology, by answering these questions:

• Which methodology do you currently use, if any?
• What types and sizes of projects do you usually manage?
• How many projects do you run in parallel at the same time?
• Which projects were successful and why?
• Which methodologies were used for which projects?
• Are any project management standards followed?
• What types of project documentation do you have?
• What are the any common problem areas with your projects?
• How would a new methodology fix these problems?

Now that you know what the common problems are and how your new methodology will address them, you're ready to list your requirements. Here are some examples:

1. Specific. It must provide us with these processes...
2. Flexible. It must help us manage these types of projects...
3. Consistent. It must help us to achieve these results...
4. Comprehensive. It must cover these lifecycle activities...
5. Toolset. It must include these templates and forms...

Step 2: Design the Solution
Then design your methodology to meet these requirements. Your design will list each of the components that the new methodology will include. Here are some examples:

• Phases. List each of the phases to be included.
• Activities. Identify the activities included per phase.
• Tasks. Specify the tasks included per activity.
• Processes. List the project processes to be added.
• Templates. Create a list of the templates to be included.

Step 3: Create Your Methodology
Now that you know which components need to be created, the next step is to physically construct them.

Create the Methodology Framework
First, create your methodology framework by documenting the "Project Management Life Cycle". To create your own life cycle, list each of the phases, activities and tasks (identified in Step 2) and sequence them accordingly.

Populate your Methodology
The next step is to populate your methodology by describing how each phase, activity and task will be carried out and in which order. You will also need to describe the roles and responsibilities carrying out each task, as well as the process needed to monitor and control the project.

Add Methodology Tools
Now that you have created your methodology, the final step is to add a suite of templates to it. Templates will help you implement each of the steps in your methodology so that you can save time as you carry out your project.

- Uday Mahajan

5 Tips to Monitor Your Projects

5 Tips to Monitor Your Projects

Tip 1: Time Management is Critical

If you want to deliver your project on-time, then you need to have a good understanding of what your team spend their time doing. That makes sense, right?

Start by using time tracking software to record time spent. Make sure that every team member records the tasks they are working on and the time they have spent, every day of the project.

You need to then review that time and make sure that it's appropriate. Are they spending the right amount of time on the right tasks, to achieve the right outcomes?

As well as monitoring the time spent, you need to understand the time remaining. So update your project plan weekly with the revised planned finish dates. Only then can you calculate the actual vs. planned progress of the project.

Tip 2: Track Percent Complete

One of the easiest ways to monitor the project is to keep an eye on the overall “percent complete”. You need to identify the actual % complete of every task and then compare it to the planned % complete (i.e. what the % complete should be as of today).

If overall, your project should be 50% complete and yet you are only 43% complete, then you have a lot of work to do, to get back on track.

Tip 3: Monitor Spend vs. Budget

You also need to continually monitor the current cost of the project vs. the budget set. Record:

• One-off expenses, using "Expense Forms".
• The cost of your resources by calculating the cost per hour of each person in your team, times the number of hours spent working on project tasks.
• All miscellaneous, recurring and ongoing expenses.

Summarize your project expenses every week and compare them to budget.

Tip 4: Keep one eye on tasks and the other on your team

Projects are always stressful. Your team has too much work to do and limited time in which to do it. So given that your team will be under stress for the length of the project, you need to monitor their motivation levels at all times.

Every week, hold a team meeting and while communicating the status of the project, find out where their motivation levels are at? Are they happy, fired up and ready to kick-ass? Or are they de-motivated and don't really care?

Motivation comes from having shared goals and enjoying the experience in achieving them. If your team has low morale or poor staff satisfaction then they will not meet the goals set. So keep an eye on team motivation constantly and run “up-beat” workshops to get them excited about the next phase ahead.

Tip 5: Changes are the Death of Projects.

The biggest risk of the project is that the business wants to change the goalposts, the minute they are set. Seen this before?

How could you win a game of football, if the goalposts constantly change? The trick is to record every change that is requested and monitor the effects of those changes on the project. If they are likely to impact on the timescales, budget or our objectives, then tell the customer upfront and request more time, resources or budget in which to do it.

- Uday Mahajan

How to Communicate on Projects

How to Communicate on Projects

As a Team Member

It's easy to get sucked into email, meetings and discussions that consume your day and prevent you from getting tasks done. So try these tips to help free your time so you can focus on tasks:

1. Email: Ask your colleagues to only email you when something needs to be done, or if it's important. You need to reduce the email you receive each day to free time for completing tasks. "Noise" (through too much email) makes communication less effective. So keep email to a minimum.
2. Meetings: Only schedule meetings if you can't resolve something in a brief discussion. Then only involve people in the meeting that absolutely have to attend. Plan each meeting by writing the agenda and key objectives beforehand, so it's focused. Keep your meetings short and to the point.
   Also, always take minutes recording the decisions made. Send those minutes to those people that will be affected by your decisions and then store the minutes in your project folder.
3. Discussions: Minimize the number of discussions with colleagues during the day. Don't involve others unless you have to. Try and plan your discussions by using a tool like Skype to see if people are available first, as interrupting them by phone or in person will break their workflow.
   By minimizing email, meetings and discussions and keeping them focused and short, you're avoiding all of the usual "noise" that project teams usually generate. You'll not only boost your productivity, but you'll communicate much more effectively.

As a Manager

1. Reports: Generate project reports once a week to see if your project is on track. Then distribute those reports to your customer and management team. Explain any deviations from the plan and what you're doing to correct them.
2. Team Meetings: Hold a weekly meeting with your team, even if it's only 30 minutes. Communicate the status of the project. Tell them your goals, deliverables and timeframes that need to be achieved. Get everyones buy-in. Everyone must be on the same page and fully motivated, if you're to meet your targets.
3. Tools: Collaborate with your team online, using a software tool
   
   
    - Uday Mahajan

How to Manage Your Project Finances

Every project needs to deliver "under budget". But when you have to oversee people, contractors, equipment and materials on a daily basis, how can you track the cost of all of this easily? Read this newsletter to find out...

How to Manage Your Project Finances

Step 1: Set the Budget
The first step towards managing your project finances is to set a budget. This isn't as easy as it sounds. You need to forecast the total amount of people, equipment, materials and other expenses, needed to deliver the project. You then need to work out when in the project plan, these expenses will take place. By doing this, you can get a picture of your "project cashflow" which tells you the amount of money you need for every week in the project.
Step 2: Backup Funding
Before you need it, find backup funding in the business. This is additional funding that can be used to deliver your project, if you need it. Few Project Managers actually do this in advance, but if you have almost completed a major deliverable and you suddenly run out of money, then that backup funding might "make or break" the project. You are always in a better position to get backup funding before you need it, rather than asking for more cash when you've already overspent. Get backup funding as early in the Project Life Cycle as possible. It will be sure to reduce your stress.
Step 3: Weekly Tracking
The next step after setting your budget and securing backup funding is to start tracking your daily spend on the project. You need to track every expense that occurs. Ask your team to complete expense forms and submit them to you for approval. If you can get your team to wait until you have approved an expense before it is incurred, then you can more easily control expenditure on the project. Next, you need to track your people expenses.

Step 4: Realignment
When you start spending more than your budget, you have 3 options available to help you stay within budget:

1. Re-forecast your expenses and present a new budget to your Sponsor for approval.
2. Start reducing costs immediately. This means spending less to get the same job done. Or alternatively, see if your Sponsor will agree to a reduced scope, so that you have less to produce for them.
3. Start using your backup funding to get you through the crux of the project.

Step 5: Cashflow Management
Make sure you always have enough funds available to cover your spending over the months ahead. Cashflow management is about managing the cash needed to deliver your project. So make sure your Sponsor has approved the next 1-2 months of work ahead of time, and that the funds needed to manage the project have been made available. Then track the spending of that funding every week.

- Uday Mahajan

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Keeping Track of Customer Complaints

Managing customer expectations is a very challenging job that requires constant attention. However, just as important is keeping track of all the customer complaints that are raised and what was done to address them. Over time this is a great way of understanding what went right / wrong with the project.
While there are a number of companies out there that have a defined process in place to capture and address customer complaints there are instances where information falls through the cracks. So it becomes the onus of the project manager to ensure that a record is kept of all such interactions ( both good and bad ).
To Automate or Not?
Another question you need to ask yourself is whether it would make sense to automate a process that captures and keeps track of customer complaints.  The idea is to track, step by step, the escalation route a customer complaint takes when entered into the system.
I do understand this is a question that should be directed to the team handling process automation within the organization instead of project managers, however being the end users of such a system it would be interesting to understand what you think of it.
Now lets presume you agree, and that you have a system up and running, how do you think this information should be handled?
Being confidential in nature you might want to consider closing off access to only allow certain people within your team from interacting with this system.  Senior Managers and group heads can then pull out reports that could give them an idea of how well / or badly a customer’s perception of the project is and can be invaluable in providing early warnings of when a projects starts to fail.
What are the Benefits of putting such a system / tool in place?

• Greater control over the format of complaints coming in
• Ability to track how complaints are being handled and the escalation routes being taken
• Provide early warning signals to senior managers
• Ability to understand what went wrong / right with the project.
• Transparent communication / Improving client relations

 

5 Tips on Project Reporting

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5 Tips on Project Reporting

1. Project status: Create a weekly Project Status Report to show your actual vs. planned effort, percent complete and actual vs. forecast spend. Specify the number of open risks, changes and issues, and state whether action by your Sponsor is required to resolve them. Also show the forecast amount of time, effort and money required to finish the project. Always try and forecast as accurately as possible. Never forecast optimistically, always conservatively.
   
2. Task completion: You need to regularly show your Sponsor your progress against the tasks listed on your schedule. Create a summarized view of your project plan and update it to reflect the percent complete for every task. Then append this summary view to your Project Status Report. This way, your Sponsor can drill down to see further information about each task, if they want to.
   By offering your Project Sponsor both summary and detailed information weekly makes them feel like your project is an "open book". They will have all of the information about your project at their finger-tips. This way, you will get more buy-in from your Sponsor and more support when it's needed.
   
3. Milestones: You need to add Milestones to your project plan to show when the major project deliverables will be produced. You then need to report on the progress of each milestone to your Sponsor. Show the percent complete of each milestone, and again, forecast the completion dates.
   Here's another tip: You will get more out of your team if you motivate them to complete milestones, as opposed to tasks. That's because people are usually proud of the things that they have achieved in life (i.e. milestones), as opposed to the things they have done to achieve them (i.e. the tasks).
   
4. Getting help: Project Sponsors don't always want to hear "we're on track and under budget" in their project reports. They just want to hear the truth. So if you’re behind schedule and you need help to get back on track, then tell your Sponsor about it in your project reports.
   State exactly what you need from them. Show them that you're doing the best you can and that you’re the best person for the job, but that you still need their help to deliver the project. If you need more time, money or resources, then ask for it. Don’t be afraid. And remember, the best time to ask for help is before you really need it. This gives you contingency, because it always takes time for help to arrive.
   
5. One version of the truth: Your project reports need to depict "one version of the truth" to your team. Keep them 100% accurate and be as open as possible about real issues that are affecting your team. Remember that if you communicate an issue to your Sponsor, then it becomes their issue to fix as well. Reporting issues is a great way to share the responsibility for fixing them.

 - Uday Mahajan

DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURABILITY GUIDELINES

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DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURABILITY GUIDELINES
for Sheetmetal 

Bends

• Bends should be tolerance plus or minus one-half degree at a location adjacent to the bends.
• For the ease of manufacturing, multiple bends on the same plane should occur in the same direction.
• Avoid large sheet metal parts with small bent flanges.
• In low carbon steel sheet metal, the minimum radius of a bend should be one-half the material thickness or 0.80 mm (0.03 inch), whichever is larger.

Counterbores

• The minimum distance between two counterbores is eight times the material thickness.
• The minimum distance from a counterbore to an edge is four times the material thickness.
• The minimum distance from a counterbore to a bend is four times the material thickness plus the bend radius.

Countersinks

• The maximum depth is 3.5 times the material thickness at an angle of the hardware.
• A minimum of 50% contact between the hardware and the countersink is required.
• The minimum distance between two countersinks is eight times the material thickness.
• The minimum distance from one countersink and an edge is four times the material thickness.
• The minimum distance from a countersink and a bend is four times the material thickness plus the bend radius.

Curls

• The minimum radius is two times the material thickness with an opening to a minimum of one material thickness.
• The minimum distance between a curl and the edge of a hole is the radius of the curl plus the material thickness.
• The minimum distance a curl should be from an internal bend is six times the material thickness plus the radius of the curl.
• The minimum distance a curl should be from an external bend is nine times the material thickness plus the radius of the curl.

Dimples

• The maximum diameter should be six times the material thickness, and a maximum depth of one-half the inside diameter.
• The minimum distance that a dimple should be from a hole is three times the material thickness plus the radius of the dimple.
• The minimum distance that a dimple should be from the edge is four times the material thickness plus the inside radius of the dimple.
• The minimum distance that a dimple should be from a bend is two times the material thickness plus the inside radius of the dimple plus the radius of the bend.
• The minimum distance between one dimple and another is four times the material thickness plus the inside radius of each dimple.

Embossments

• The maximum depth is proportional to the internal radius or material thickness.
• The maximum depth for a flat embossment is equal to the internal radius plus the external radius.
• The maximum depth for a V embossment is equal to three times the material thickness.

Extruded Holes

• The minimum distance between two extruded holes is six times the material thickness.
• The minimum distance from an extruded hole to an edge is three times the material thickness.
• The minimum distance from an extruded hole to a bend is three times the material thickness plus the bend radius.

Flanges

• The minimum height of a bent flange is directly related to the material thickness, bend radius, and length of bend.
• The minimum width of a bend relief is one material thickness or 1.50 mm (0.06 inch), whichever is greater.

Gussets

• The width and depth, recommended at an angle of 45 degrees, is directly proportional to the radius and material thickness.
• The minimum distance that a gusset should be from the edge of a hole in a parallel plane is eight times the material thickness plus the radius of the gusset.

Hems

• The minimum diameter of a teardrop hem is equal to the material thickness, with a return flange height equal to or greater than four times the material thickness, and a minimum opening of 1/4 of the material thickness.
• The minimum diameter of an open hem is equal to the material thickness with a return flange height equal to or greater than four times the material thickness.
• The minimum return flange height of a closed hem is equal to or greater than four times the material thickness (the diameter is zero). NOTE: Closed hems tend to fracture at the bend and cause entrapment of solutions during the finishing process.
• The minimum distance from a hole to a hem is two times the material thickness plus the radius of the hem.
• The minimum distance a hem should be from an internal bend is five times the material thickness.
• The minimum distance a hem should be from an external bend is eight times the material thickness.

Holes

• The minimum diameter of a hole should be equal to the materials thickness or 1.00 mm (0.04 inch), whichever is greater.
• The minimum distance between holes is directly proportional to the size and shape for the hole feature and the material thickness
• The minimum distance the edge of a hole should be from a form is three times the material thickness plus the form radius.
• The minimum distance the edge of a hole should be from a bend is two times the material thickness plus the bend radius.
• The minimum distance between a hole and the edge of the material is directly proportional to the size and shape of the hole and the material thickness.
• The minimum distance between the leading edge of a hole through a bend should be equal to the thickness of material plus the bend radius or two times the material thickness, whichever is greater.

Lances

• The minimum width of an open lance is two times the material thickness or 3.00 mm (0.125 inch), whichever is greater, with a maximum length of five times the width.
• The minimum width of a closed lance is two times the material thickness or 1.60 mm (0.06 inch), whichever is greater, and a maximum height of five times the material thickness at a 45-degree angle.
• The minimum distance from a lance to a bend in a parallel plane is eight times the material thickness plus the radius of the bend.
• The minimum distance from a lance to a bend in a perpendicular plane is ten times the material thickness plus the radius of the bend.
• The minimum distance from a lance to a hole is three times the material thickness.

Notches

• The minimum width is equal to the material thickness or 1.00 mm (0.04 inch), whichever is greater.
• The maximum length for a straight/radius end notch is equal to five times the width.
• The maximum length for a V notch is equal to two times the width.
• The minimum distance between a hole and the edge of a notch is directly proportional to the size/shape of the hole and the material thickness.
• The minimum distance from a notch to a bend in a parallel plane is eight times the material thickness plus the radius of the bend.
• The minimum distance from a notch to a bend in a perpendicular plane is three times the material thickness plus the radius of the bend.
• The minimum distance beyond the bend on the side edge is equal to the thickness of the material plus the bend radius, or two times the material thickness, whichever is greater.
• The minimum distance between two notches is two times the material thickness or 3.200 mm (0.125 inch), whichever is greater.

Ribs

• The maximum inside radius is equal to three times the material thickness, with a maximum depth of the inside radius.
• The minimum distance from a center line of a rib to the edge of a hole is three times the material thickness plus the radius of the rib.
• The minimum distance a rib should be from an edge in a perpendicular plane is four times the material thickness plus the radius of the rib.
• The minimum distance a rib should be from an edge in a parallel plane is eight times the material thickness plus the radius of the rib.
• The minimum distance a rib should be from a bend perpendicular to the rib is two times the material thickness, plus the radius of the rib, plus the radius of the bend.
• The minimum distance between two parallel ribs is ten times the material thickness plus the radii of the ribs.

Semi-Pierced Hole

• The minimum distance from a semi-pierced hole and a form is three times the material thickness plus the form radius.
• The minimum distance from a semi-pierced hole and a bend is two times the material thickness plus the bend radius.
• The minimum distance between semi-pierced holes is eight times the material thickness.

Slots

• The minimum width of a slot is equal to the material thickness or 1.00 mm (0.04 inch), whichever is greater.
• The minimum distance from the inside surface of a bend to the edge of a slot is directly proportional to the length of the slot, material thickness, and radius of the bend.
• When using slots and tabs the maximum width of the slot must be greater than the thickness of the tab and the tab length should equal the material thickness.

Tabs

• The minimum width is equal to two times the material thickness or 3.200 mm, whichever is greater, while the maximum length is five times the width.
• The minimum distance between tabs is equal to the material thickness or 1.00 mm (0.04 inch), whichever is greater.

Welding

• Spot welding should be restricted to joining coplanar surfaces.
• The minimum distance between welds is 10 times the material thickness. Using 20 times the material thickness is ideal.
• The minimum distance between a weld and the edge is two times the diameter of the spot weld.
• The minimum distance from a weld to a form is the spot diameter plus the bend radius.
• Use PEMs instead of threaded inserts.

Plating

• Outside sharp corners receive twice as much plating as flat surfaces.
• Allow for pitch diameters for screw threads, which can increase four times the plating thickness.
• Tapped holes may need to be re-tapped after plating to ensure accuracy.
• Projections accumulate more plating than other areas.
• Recessed areas may be difficult to plate, resulting in little or no coverage.
• Lap-welded joints trap plating solutions. One solution is to raise welds on embossed areas by 0.015 in. (0.3 mm) to allow for flushing and blow drying between the surfaces.
• Masking of stampings and fabrications to anodize certain areas is not recommended.
• Design drain holes/vent holes for plating solutions and rinsing.
• Design tabs/holes for attachment to part racks.
  
  
  - Uday Mahajan

Design for Assembly and Design for Manufacturing

DFA AND DFM

"Design For Assembly and Design For Manufacturing"

Design for Assembly (DFA) techniques aim to reduce the cost and time of assembly by simplifying the product and process through such means as reducing the number of parts, combining two or more parts into one, reducing or eliminating adjustments, simplifying assembly operations, designing for parts handling and presentation, selecting fasteners for ease of assembly, minimizing parts tangling, and ensuring that products are easy to test. For example, tabs and notches in mating parts make assembly easier, and also reduce the need for assembly and testing documentation. Simple z-axis assembly can minimize handling and insertion times.

The impact of DFA will be found throughout the overall design and manufacturing process. Use of DFA to reduce the number of parts will help reduce inventory, and so will help reduce inventory management effort. As a result, it will support activities such as Just In Time (JIT) aimed at improving shop-floor performance. Use of DFA to develop modular products making use of common parts will allow the variety desired by Marketing while limiting the workload on the Manufacturing function. Modular sub-assemblies can be built and tested independently. Model variations can be created at the subsystem level.

A variety of DFA checklists and guidelines is available. They provide statements of good practice, and prompt the designer to check, for example, that the number of parts in a sub-assembly is below a certain limit, that no unwieldy assembly operations are required, and that the number of different types of screws has been minimized. DFA is also supported by computer programs that assign scores to products as a function of their ease of assembly, and estimated assembly cost and time.

Companies using DFA techniques have reported reducing the number of parts, the number of assembly tools, the number of assembly operations, the assembly space, the number of suppliers, and the assembly time by up to 85 %.

Design for Manufacture (DFM) techniques are closely linked to Design for Assembly techniques, but are oriented primarily to individual parts and components rather than to DFA's sub-assemblies, assemblies, and products. DFM aims to eliminate the often expensive and unnecessary features of a part that make it difficult to manufacture. It helps prevent the unnecessarily smooth surface, the radius that is unnecessarily small, and the tolerances that are unnecessarily high.

The DFA objective of reducing the number of parts may lead to highly integrated, complicated, multi-functional parts. DFM aims to keep individual parts simple, because overly complicated parts can have hidden costs that are not initially apparent.

DFA and DFM are closely linked to EDM/PDM and concurrent engineering. Designers should be able, through the EDM/PDM system, to access information that will help them improve the design of the part they are working with. They will be able to call up computer programs that can analyze the current state of their design, point out where the design is too complicated, and indicate possible areas of improvement. DFA and DFM are best carried out at the conceptual design stage, before major decisions about product and process characteristics have been finalized. At this early stage of the design, there may not be a lot of information to work with, but the EDM/PDM system will make sure that whatever information exists can be made available to the product team. 

So in conlusion I can say following are the steps/point to be taken care for DFA and DFM:

• Simplify the design and reduce the number of parts.
• Standardize and use common parts and materials.
• Design for ease of fabrication.
• Design within process capabilities and avoid unneeded surface finish requirements.
• Mistake-proof product design and assembly.
• Design for parts orientation and handling.
• Minimize flexible parts and interconnections.
• Design for ease of assembly.
• Design for efficient joining and fastening.
• Design modular products.
• Design for automated production.
• Design printed circuit boards for assembly.     

Tips for Running Project Meetings

Tips for Running Project Meetings

Everyone dislikes meetings that drag on. So your job is to make it focused, highly driven and to add a sense of purpose. If you do this, then you’ll boost team motivation and morale. Here are 5 tips to help you...

Tip 1: Plan wisely

To make sure you get the most out of your meetings, you need to plan them wisely. Prior to each meeting, write down 3 goals that you want from the meeting. Here are some examples:

• "I want the team to know we're on track"
• "I want any issues or risks to be raised"
• "I want them to feel valued and motivated"

Then you need to work out how you're going to achieve your goals. The next few tips will help you with this...

Tip 2: Open and close carefully

Like in theatre, people most remember the opening and the closure the most. So open and close your meetings carefully. When you open the meeting, tell them what the purpose of the meeting is, what you want to get out of it and why it's important. This gets their attention and sets the scene. When you close the meeting, tell them what has been agreed / achieved in the meeting and the next steps going forward.

Tip 3: Control the conversation

You need to be in complete control of the meeting at all times, to ensure that:

• The meeting follows the agenda
• You never get stuck on a single issue
• One person doesn't dominate it
• Everyone has their say

Start by standing or sitting in a prominent place in the room. Raise your voice a little to add presence. Jump in frequently when people talk too long. Be polite but strong. Control the meeting as a coach would control a football team - by constantly watching, listening and directing the team. If possible, ask someone else to record the minutes. This gives you the time needed to control the conversation so that the agenda and your 3 goals are met.

Tip 4: Park it and move on

Often in meetings, a single issue can consume the majority of the meeting time. If the issue is not related to your specific meeting goals, then tell the team to "park it and move on". Record the issue on a whiteboard or paper and address it with the relevant team members separately after the meeting. This keeps your meetings short and focused.

Tip 5: Keep it action orientated

Projects are all about "getting things done". So make sure that where possible, every discussion results in an action to be completed. Focusing on the actions that are needed, is a great way of reducing the length of meetings.

- Uday Mahajan

Deliver your Projects Faster

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Deliver your Projects Faster

Here are 5 tips for delivering projects faster...

Tip 1: Find Shortcuts in your Plan
Project Managers usually spend 80% of their time executing and 20% planning. The reason is that the Execution phase is where the excitement is, so they roll their sleeves up and get started executing as quickly as possible.

But if you spend extra time in the Planning phase, then you can usually identify shortcuts which enable you to produce the same project outcome in less time.

So when you think your project plan is complete, take extra time to re-look at your plan from the point of view of delivering it faster. By doing this, you'll find that you can schedule things to be done in a way that takes less time, with less effort.

Tip 2: Automate Manual Tasks
You need to automate your manual daily tasks to help you do things faster. Here are some of the manual tasks that many Project Managers do each week that could be automated using project software:

• Summarizing data for your Weekly Status Reports
• Collating Timesheets and Expense Forms
• Updating your Project Plan with timesheet data
• Working out whether the project is on track
• Reporting on risks, changes and issues.

You don't need to perform these tasks manually. You can invest in project software to do all this for you. Your team will enter the data you need and the software will group and summarize it all for you. All you need to do is run reports and view the current status of your plan to ensure it remains on track.

Tips 3: Manage Execution Carefully
When your project gets underway, manage your project against the plan vigilantly. It’s easy for the plan to sit on the shelf, and for the team to go in their own direction. Instead, you need to lead the team by making sure they complete only those tasks which have been planned, and not other tasks which have cropped up along the way. So manage the project execution carefully. You can also save time in the Execution phase by:

• Working your suppliers and contractors hard
• Mitigating risks and issues before they affect the timeframe
• Saving all non-critical tasks until after the project is complete
• Not allowing unplanned tasks to be completed, unless critical
• Not implementing change requests, unless they are critical.

Tip 4: Double up on Resources
Usually, the easiest way to shorten the length of the project is to assign more resources to it. However, this isn’t possible for many projects because they have a limited budget and a limited pool of resource.

But that's not to say that you can't double up on resources for the right tasks. It just means that if you do this, then other tasks will be under-resourced. So why would you do this?

In most projects there are tasks on the “critical path” that must be completed to deliver the project. If you assign more resources to these tasks than are necessary, you can usually complete them earlier than expected. And it makes sense that if every critical path task is completed faster, then the entire project will be delivered quicker than expected.

Tips 5: Get the Critical Tasks done first
In many projects the last 20% of tasks, take 50% of the length of the project. This is because the team have left the difficult tasks until the end, which happens to be when they are tired and need a holiday!

Instead, identify the tasks in your plan which are the most complex and challenging to complete. And if possible, tackle those tasks at the start of the project, when people are fresh and enthusiastic. You’ll find that they can complete those tasks in less time and to a higher standard of quality than if they were left until the end of the project. And with those difficult tasks completed, the rest of the project should be easier to deliver.

- Uday Mahajan

5 Steps to Hiring the Right Staff

To ensure you hire the right staff for the right roles, take these steps:
1. Define the Role
Sounds easy, but defining the role properly is the most important step to take when recruiting new staff. You need to create a Job Description document that describes the:

• Purpose and responsibilities of the role;
• Reporting and communication relationships;
• Skills, experience and qualifications needed;
• Team fit and performance criteria;
• Salary, rate, commission and benefits; and
• Work environment and special conditions.

2. Find Top Candidates
Next, advertise the role both internally and externally. Make your advert as specific as possible by listing the key responsibilities. Explain the challenges that they will face. List any special requirements. Make it sound enticing, but don’t oversell it.
Then while the adverts are running identify your selection criteria for interviews, based on the characteristics in the Job Description.
When the adverts close, review your list of applicants against the selection criteria and choose between 3 and 5 applicants to interview.
3. Interview Candidates
Next, interview the selected candidates. Make sure you prepare fully for each interview, so don't just "wing it". For every interview, you should:

• Prepare a list of questions before you start.
• Cover all areas of the Job Description during the interview.
• Address any strengths and weaknesses from their CV.
• Consider the quality of the questions they’ve posed to you.
• Be specific, direct and to the point at all times.

Don't be afraid to take notes during the interview. You will find that if you're interviewing more than 3 candidates, you will need to rely on the interview notes heavily when progressing to the next stage.
4. Test Candidates
Depending on the type of role you're recruiting for, you may also want to formally test your candidates. Here are 10 ways that you can test candidates to determine their suitability against the Job Description:

1. Perform personality, competency and numerical testing.
2. Get them to send samples of work completed in the past.
3. Ask them to perform specific project tasks. For instance, if hiring a software developer, get them to write you an example program.
4. Perform a second interview with management.
5. Get them to meet the team and allow the team to ask questions.
6. Take them for lunch with your team and see how they socialize.
7. Get them to do a formal presentation to your team.
8. Seek 3 professional references, all from past employers.
9. Ask them for 2 personal references, for character checking.
10. Speak to their prior customers to confirm their competency.

5. Select Candidate
Based on the interview and test results, the next step is to select the right person for the job. If you have a number of people that you can't decide between, then here are your options:

• Hire neither and start again. It's difficult to do this as you've put in a lot of work to get to this point. But it may be better to start again than hire a candidate who will not meet your needs fully.
• Hire both and deliver earlier. In some cases you can split a Job Description in two and allocate the responsibilities to more than one person. It's challenging and risky doing this, but in some cases you can deliver the project earlier and at the same cost by hiring 2 gifted candidates at the same time.
• Select the best candidate. In most cases you're landed with this option. If both candidates are "on an even par", then don't pass the decision on to someone else, go with your gut feel. We could give you numerous statistical testing methods to choose the right person, but at the end of the day they have to be able to do the job and fit in with your team—and only you will know which candidate is best to do this.

- Uday Mahajan