Robert Ryan PMP

Customer Involvement

hirerobertryan — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:07:36 +0000

What is the best way to get a customer involved in your software project? Customer involvement is crucial if you are going to deliver a product that the customer will use. The customer is the only one who can explain to you their need and value of the delivery.

The first step is to have the project team (Business Analyst & Development Team Lead) have an extensive discussion with the client to understand the current software package. This is important for a few reasons:

1. To learn how the customer uses the current software package

2. To learn the limitations of the current package

3. To understand what the customer needs or would like the software to do

This is an important first step that can lead to further conversations between the technical team (Business Analyst & Development Team Lead) and the customer to define the scope of the project.

Once the scope is defined the technical team then can work with the customer to prioritize the order of delivery for new functionality. Now that the development team has their priorities (and the Business Analyst has finished defining the requirements) the coding can begin.

I have always felt it was useful to have customer buy in of new functionality before it is implemented. You can do this by showing the customer the prototype and then letting them get hands on with the prototype. This will help the team gain invaluable feedback on their work. There is nothing worse than developing something you think/hope the customer will need or use. This will only lead to rewrites, which leads to running behind schedule, which leads to a frustrated development team and customer. By soliciting customer feedback from a prototype (something the customer can touch and see and nothing as esoteric as gathering requirements) this will not only help the development team stay on track (and hopefully give them even more insight on the customer needs) but it will also build good will with the customer. The customer can become an advocate and build excitement for the new product. I couldn’t image being a customer and only receiving feedback from the development team at payment milestones, and then receiving a deliverable which doesn’t meet their needs.

Just before release of new functionality the customer can also be beneficial in testing. By having a few members’ of the clients staff involved in UAT (User Acceptance Testing) they can help find bugs or define any functionality which is not working optimally.

Just like every other component of a Project Manager’s job communication (in this case with the customer) is invaluable to delivering successful projects.

How Can You Tell If You Are Managing Too Many Projects?

hirerobertryan — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:46:17 +0000

Is there a magic number to determine if you are managing too many projects? Some project managers have 3 projects and say they are overburdened while other project managers might be managing 8 projects and they say they have bandwidth to take on more. The number of projects that can be properly managed simultaneously by one person depends on the scope of the projects and how much effort is required to properly manage them.

Generally it is easier to manage many smaller projects simultaneously (this can range from an agile sprint of 3 or 4 weeks or a project that is scheduled to last less than six months). Plus it is also easier to manage multiple projects when they are part of the same program (using dedicated resources who are familiar with the program and are working in a coordinated effort).

So how can you tell if a project manager is overloaded with too many projects? The first way you can tell is by measuring the effectiveness of the project manager. Does the project manager have any authority with the team or are they driving the project? Meaning does the project manager have the buy in of the project team working on the project (are status updates being given by team members voluntarily, are project managers involved in the decision making progress to help solve issues, are team members showing up to meetings)?

The second way to tell is to talk to other project managers in your organization. Are they having the same issues? Is the problem endemic with your company or are you the only one dealing with this?

If you are dealing with too many projects the best thing you can do is to prioritize your projects by managing the ones that have most visibility and the greatest value for your company. There are too many companies that are trying to do “more with less” and this axiom can cause headaches for project managers. If you are managing too many projects try working with senior leadership (Program Managers, Sr Project Manager, or Executive Stakeholders) to lighten your load and increase your effectiveness.

Stand Up Meetings

hirerobertryan — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:33:27 +0000

All project managers know that communication is the most important thing we do. Communication is what makes the project move forward and helps to resolve any and all issues. That is why daily stand up meeting are so important to me. When I first introduced this many of my developers groaned about having another meeting on an already busy calendar. In the end this daily 15 minute meeting helped to clear up many misunderstandings and actually freed up each team members calendar to be more effective.

The meeting always takes place at the beginning or end of the day (depending on where the developers are located relative to my location in the Eastern US) and I always keep it less than 15 minutes. Members are not allowed to bring laptops, cell phones, or tablet computers to the meeting. I want to keep distractions to a minimum so we can focus on the task at hand. Details on a project can change quickly so I want everyone at the meeting to “be present.”

I encourage team members (developers and QA) to bring current issues they are experiencing to the stand up meeting. The idea is that someone else in the meeting may have an idea how to resolve the issue or at least point the person in the right direction on how to fix it. This will result in benefits such as improved efficiencies and saving the team members time in research or even further meetings.

Finally the stand up meeting is a great way to have everyone on the team stay on the same page through collaboration. When developers are off in their own “silos” and they try to piece their code together with another developer’s code then there can be issues around the code not working as designed. By collaborating with one another on a daily basis then this will foster greater communication among the team members thereby resolving the issue of “wasted code” and having to perform duplicate work when trying to get different pieces of code to fit together and work properly.

Stakeholder Analysis

hirerobertryan — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:17:41 +0000

One of the very early stages of any project is to identify the stakeholders who will be affected (either positively or negatively) by the project. This is done to notify anyone about the risks of the project so that these issues are discussed and addressed before the project gets underway. It is important to identify all people and groups who have an interest in the project so you can manage their expectations.

A stakeholder is anyone who can impact a project either directly or indirectly. Examples of direct stakeholders are team members, managers, customers, or outside vendors. They are involved or impacted by the project. A good example of an indirect stakeholder is a member of Senior Management. They are not directly working on your project but they have the influence to impact your project or are just interested in the project’s outcome.
The best way to identify stakeholders is to talk with the person who has assigned you the project. Gather their feedback to see who they think the stakeholders are. Then when you reach out to these stakeholders to discuss the project review who the current stakeholders are and ask them if they feel anyone else should be added.

Once the stakeholders have been identified the project manager has to reach out to each stakeholder to review with them the scope of the project, all of the identified risks, and how they will be impacted by the project. Then let the stakeholder bring up any risks you may have missed along with possible mitigation steps to take.

Now that you have reached out to all of the stakeholders you have to keep them in the communication loop so that they are apprised on the progress the project is making. Depending upon the type of stakeholder they are (direct or indirect) your communication with them can be as varied as team meetings, weekly emails with status reports, or even a display (whiteboard) showing project status.

Stakeholder analysis is an important step in managing any project. Once you have the buy in of all the stakeholders and their risks have been addressed then the project should run very smoothly.

Feasibility Study

hirerobertryan — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 15:14:07 +0000

How many project managers have been given a project which seems like an impossible task? Either the scope is vague; the business reasoning for performing the project is unknown, or both. Before undertaking a project that seems like it has a slim chance for success the project manager should perform feasibility study. This study will greatly cut down the risks inherent in a project with so many unknowns.

The goal of a feasibility study is to see if a project is in alignment with a company’s goals. The first step is to define the requirements for the project. That means creating measurable criteria (baseline) to judge the validity of the project. Once a baseline is created then a high level milestone schedule for delivery should be created. In parallel to all of this work a business case also needs to be developed.

With all of these things in place you can now start to implement your feasibility study. You need to document the entire process to show how you came to your final conclusion. What were the different solutions you investigated when trying to ascertain the best approach to work on the project? Were you able to prove what approach was the most beneficial in working on the project? Did you come to the conclusion that the project is not feasible at all? The time a project manager uses to determine the validity of a potential project can save a company a lot of money and time better spent working on more feasible projects that are more in step with the company’s goals.

Secrets to Project Success

hirerobertryan — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:12:01 +0000

There are many theories on how to become an effective project manager. There are also many measurements to being an effective project manager. Whatever theories you subscribe to or whatever measurements you use for success there are a few principles you can use to make yourself a better project manager.

Do Some Homework

A project manager is not expected to have the same skill set as a developer or QA person but it is important to have some knowledge of what the developers are talking about. Being able to intelligently discuss issues that arise and knowing some possible solutions can save a lot of time in solving the issue. Adding extra meeting to bring SMEs together to solve an issue can really slow a project down.

Additionally I like to create an organization chart of each team I work with. Having a clear idea of where team members fall within the org chart help if you are having any issues with team members.

Provide Leadership

It is a very delicate art to provide leadership that does not border on micromanaging. I can’t emphasize how important it is to rely on the judgement and feedback of members of your team. Without this trust the project manager can become a micro manager that will will tear apart a team pretty fast. Successful project managers realize that if they provide leadership and guidance to the team they will empower the team members to excel in roles.

Develop a Rapport With Stakeholders

The most successful projects rely on teamwork and respect among collaborators. The best way to foster this as the project manager is to create a transparent environment where open communication is encouraged. This will create an environment that encourages cooperation and the sharing of ideas to arrive at the best solution.

Daily Execution Plan

hirerobertryan — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:56:36 +0000

Managing multiple tasks across numerous projects can be a daunting challenge. It is always easy to focus on the upcoming tasks in the big profile project that is your biggest priority. The other projects are sometimes neglected (until an issue arises) because all of your time is spent dealing with the high profile project. So how do you effectively manage all of the tasks in each of your project?

I like to prepare a spreadsheet where I have each project separated on its own tab. (I also have a tab that has all the activities for all the projects) On each tab I have the following:

List of activities currently in progress
List of activities scheduled to start that week as part of the project plan
List of activities that will be finished up this week
Resource(s) assigned to the tasks
The status of the task
Any issues that are tied to the task (that may either thwart completion of the task or just an issue or dependency that needs to be tracked)

I then use the spreadsheet to reach out to development stakeholders to ensure they are able to successfully complete their tasks. I also use the spreadsheet to track dependencies. Any incomplete tasks are rolled over to next week’s spreadsheet. More importantly I track the reasons why tasks slip and then use this information later during my lessons learned. I have at times shared the spreadsheet in team meetings but I generally just create the spreadsheet for myself.

Defining Project Requirements

hirerobertryan — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:56:15 +0000

Defining requirements in a project is quite often the most difficult part of the project. The requirements are the foundation of the project an a project built on quicksand will lead to your (and the project’s) peril. Here are some things to remember when defining requirements:

Functional Requirements The functional requirements should be defined with input from business and technical stakeholders. I have worked on projects where the team rushed through these and it only lead to headache and heartache down the road. Change requests have to be written, morale is compromised, and customer confidence in the team wains. take your time and get this step right.
Complete Design Once the requirements are defined you then need to define how the requirements will be implemented. This implementation step is often referred to as the design. This is your last chance to ensure that all of the team members fully understand all the requirements.
Define Milestones As the project schedule is starting to take shape I always like to define the milestones. You can use these milestones to outline the phases of the project based on the requirements. The end of each phase should have measurable deliverables that can be tested for quality so that it is clear when a phase has been completed.
Set Project Schedule Once the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) is complete take all of the tasks that have been defined by development stakeholders and create your project schedule. As the Project Manager it is extremely important to get sign off from all key development stakeholders to ensure everyone is on the same page when it comes to delivery timeline.
Create Test Plans Work with QA resources to have the proper test plans created. Once the test plans have been written (and reviewed) also work on a UAT (User Acceptance Testing) plan. Be sure to leave no stone unturned.

How To Properly Delegate Tasks

hirerobertryan — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 20:11:25 +0000

The basic job description of every project manager involves managing a project to completion by ensuring the proper completion of tasks. These tasks are completed by team members (because we don’t have the expertise or the hours in a day to complete all the tasks on a project). Delegating these tasks to team members involves a level of trust between the project manager and the team member(s) that the tasks will be successfully completed. Therein lies the question as to how to properly delegate tasks to the right team members.

I always like to work with the team leaders to get a sense of who they will assign to the project and why. Do certain team members have more proficiency working on similar projects? Or are certain team members just have more free time in their schedule?

Once the task has been assigned I like to reach out to the resource to be sure they understand what is expected of them, the timeframe the task needs to be completed, and finally if they have any questions for me (relating to their assigned tasks or project scope).

Once the task is delegated I always follow up with the resource to determine if they are running into any issues, have any questions, and also if they are completing the task.

The delegation of tasks is crucial because:

1. You will ensure the tasks are being completed on time and correctly.

2. Having team members involved in the project and showing them how important their contributions are to the project will help to build a cohesive team and also build trust between the project manager and the team member(s).

Leading Project Teams in a Matrix Organization

hirerobertryan — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:25:20 +0000

I believe that most project managers work in matrix organizations. The standard definition of a matrix organization is one where a company is structured by functional area with functional managers at the top of the structure. These different functional areas are not connected to each other in a company organizational chart. In other words the project manager does not have any direct reports but manages the direct reports of other functional managers. This can lead to difficulties when leading a project and the project manager is managing the direct reports of other managers. There are a few ways to work around this.

The first way is to lead projects by influence not authority. The best way to build power by influence is through long term relationships with your project team members.

The best tool to use for influence authority are status reports. Using status reports to show which team members are performing well (as well as those who are not) can give the project manager a powerful influence over the team. This will help make issues visible and will jump start the process to solve them.

The second way to lead projects in a weak matrix organization is to build a strong relationship with the functional managers. Project managers need direct reports of the functional managers to work on their projects. The project manager has to obtain and maintain resource commitments for their project when there are other projects that are vying for the time commitments of the same resources. Failure to establish a successful relationship with the functional manager(s) will turn the project into a constant struggle to maintain the proper resources and to meet the project objectives.

The third way to lead projects in a weak matrix organization is to develop an awareness of what the key meetings are to attend and which stakeholders can help you most when you run into an issue. Without this information the project manager may waste precious time resolving issues.