Sydney workshops

There are a series of workshops planned for Sydney over the next few weeks we highly recommend:

Workshop 1: Applying Earned Value to Commercial [IT] Projects
This course has been crafted to allow project managers to decide for themselves whether they want to improve the performance of their projects by apply the principles of Earned Value without the overhead associated with large, complex Department of Defence acquisition contracts.

Workshop 2: Earned Schedule Masterclass
Earned schedule analysis is a breakthrough analytical technique that derives schedule performance measures in units of time, rather than cost. The same basic EVM data points are used. Indicators, similar to those for cost, are derivable from the earned schedule measure. These indicators provide a status and predictive ability for schedule, analogous to cost.

Workshop 3: Approaches to and Lessons Learned from “Internal Project Surveillance” with Lisa Wolf EVP, PMP. Lisa is the Earned Value Management (EVM) Focal Point for Booz Allen Hamilton, a leading USA global consulting firm that is committed to delivering results that endure.

This workshop focuses on the approaches which can be adopted and lessons learned in setting up an internal project management surveillance function which comes from Booz Allen Hamilton’s internal experience as well as extensive experience assisting US Government agencies and other clients. Best practices which are essential for successfully establishing this function including processes, procedures, and vital internal relationship-building will be explored.

For more information on these workshops see: ‘Upcoming Events’ at
http://pmisydney.org/

Proof of the blindingly obvious

We all know good scheduling leads to better project outcomes – certainly for me it’s been a article of faith for most of the last 40 years and ‘obvious’ from observation. But ask me, and any other scheduler I know to prove this fact and we would be hard pressed to come up with anything substantive.

Over the years there have been many surveys that link the lack of effective planning to poor project outcomes. One of the more definitive was undertaken by the CIOB in 2008 (download the report ‘Managing the Risk of Delayed Completion in the 21st Century’). But showing projects tend to fail if they don’t use effective planning and scheduling is not the same as showing that good planning and scheduling enhances the probability of success.

This has now changed! A paper published by Dr Dan Patterson, the CEO of Acumen, demonstrates a clear link between good schedules (defined as technically competent schedules) and good project outcomes.

Figure 1, taken from Dan’s paper Does Better Scheduling Drive Execution Success? Published in November’s PM World Today shows a strong correlation between the technical competence used to develop the schedule and the number of activities that finished on time. The data is based on a sample of 35 large projects ranging from US$15 million to US$30 billion (download the paper).

Link the CIOB findings with Dan’s data and the message is blindingly obvious – if you are running a large project without a competent scheduler supporting the management team with effective scheduling, you are virtually guaranteeing failure!

Hopefully the work currently being undertaken by Planning Planet, CIOB and others to develop a framework (or frameworks) to train and qualify competent schedulers will mean in the next year or two there will be enough good schedulers to meet the demand from business and industry. For more on this see: Should you certify your schedulers?  and watch this space…. There are a number of announcements due in the next couple of weeks.

Most Effective Forms of Project Management Training

One of the findings from a recently conducted survey by project management training and consulting firm Project Management Solutions (led by Kent Crawford) was that not all forms of project management training are created equal – or are even effective.

The survey looked at three forms of training

• Instructor-led classroom training
• Blended training
• Technology delivered training

Instructor-led classroom training ranked #1
69% of respondents rated it as the most effective method for a variety of reasons. These included the opportunity to network, to spontaneously ask questions and share experiences, and to learn in an environment that tries to mimic actual project team dynamics.

“The instructors are typically seasoned project managers who have a lot of war stories,” says Crawford. “They felt hearing lessons from someone who has the scars is invaluable.”

Blended Learning ranked #2
Blended techniques, which combine instructor led-classroom learning with some combination of self-directed e-learning, instructor-led e-learning, or technology-delivered training, ranked second, with 53% of respondents casting their vote.

Technology-delivered training ranked last.

• 29% of respondents deemed self-directed e-learning to be worthwhile.
• 27% considered instructor-led e-learning (such as webinars) to be valuable.
• 20% think technology-delivered training (such as CD-ROMs or podcasts) is useful.

We wholeheartedly agree with these findings. Mosaic has always considered direct integration between trainees and an experienced project manager is critical. Whilst instructor led training is ideal, access to this form of training is limited by location, timing and cost. Our public classroom schedule is outlined at:
http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Training-Schedule.html

To overcome these limitations and paying for coffee at $5 per cup, we have developed our unique Mentored Email™ courses for the PMP, CAPM, PgMP and PMI-SP credentials. We feel Mentored Email™ offers the best of both worlds; you work at a speed that suits you in the home, office or on the train; but you interact continually with your course mentor via email or telephone. To see more on this unique and effective option see:
http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Training-Mentored.html

CAPM at Swinburne University

Mosaic has entered into a long term partnership with Meta PM to deliver a series of intensive 4 Day CAPM courses to members of the Swinburne community and others. The courses will be delivered on-campus during semester breaks over the next 18 months.

The Meta PM / Swinburne courses are designed to provide Swinburne graduates with access to a range of industry standard credentials to augment their core academic studies and degrees; improving the graduates position in the job market. Mosaic’s role is to deliver the CAPM courses included in the overall agreement.

Download the Swinburne Brochure, or see more on Mosaic’s CAPM course options.

PMP Exam Update

We are busily updating our PMP materials ready for the new exam scheduled to launch on the 1st September (and helping the last of our current candidates to finish their Mentored Email™  courses).

One of the facets in the new PMP Exam Specification is the concept of ‘Cross-cutting knowledge and skills’ – these capabilities apply to all of the other ‘domains’ of project management from initiation through to closing. A number of these core capabilities are already covered by Mosaic’s White Papers including:
Negotiation
Active listening  and
Leadership.

Two new White Papers uploaded this weekend to round out the information requirements for the PMP exam are:
Data Gathering and Brainstorming  and
Facilitation.

All of Mosaic’s new PMP courses are designed for the new exam including our Mentored Email™  one-on-one training and all futures classroom courses starting with the 5 day intensive course schedule for Melbourne starting 29th August.

Now all we have to do is update our PgMP course before that exam changes on 1st January 2012……

PMOZ 2011

The PMOZ conference is one of the best regional project management conferences world-wide and has a reputation for combining fun, networking and high quality learning into one event. The 2011 conference theme Project Management at the Speed of Light has attracted a wide range of interesting speakers from around the world.

Our involvement in the conference includes my keynote presentation Motivate your manager plus Patrick’s half day scheduling workshop and his paper Time management -v- Contract administration.

It’s not too late to join us for a great event, for more information download the Registration Brochure.

PMI-SP and PTMC Courses Launched

Mosaic is offering a world-first integrated scheduling course for the PMI Scheduling Professional (PMI-SP) and CIOB Project Time Management Certificate (PTMC). The total course comprises 13 modules of focused schedule training.

Modules 1 to 6 provide the education needed for the new CIOB Project Time Management Certificate (PTMC) examination.

Modules 1 to 5 plus Modules 7 to 13 provide the education needed for the PMI-SP credential.

All of the modules are available via Mosaic’s Mentored Email™ delivery allowing schedulers to prepare for their examinations anywhere, any time.

Additionally, Modules 1 to 4 are incorporated into Mosaic’s successful 1 Day and 2 Day scheduling workshops. The 1 Day workshop is exclusively focused on the exam-prep modules, the 2 Day workshop covers a range of additional scheduling and time management topics.

Bookings for this exciting range of courses are open with module delivery scheduled from the 1st March for the Mentored Email™ courses.

The first 1 Day workshop focused on the new courses will be held on the 12th April in Melbourne with others to follow.

Details of our one-on-one Mentored Email™ course are at
http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Training-Planning_One-on-One.html
.

Our first 1 Day classroom course incorporating modules 1 to 4 will be in Melbourne, Australia on the 12th April, for more on the classroom courses see:
http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Training-PMGen%205-STEPS.html

For more information on the CIOB Project Time Management Certificate (PTMC) and course fees see:
http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Training-CIOB-TM_Credential.html

For more information on the PMI Scheduling Professional credential (PMI-SP) and course fees see:
http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Training-Planning.html

If you wish to buy a copy of The Guide in advance of the course, see:
http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Book_Sales.html#CIOB
– your course fees are reduced if we don’t have to ship books.

PgMP Training Updated

We have updated our PgMP course offering to include a service where we cut an applicant’s CV to the PMI format using our Word Template and return the PMI version to the Applicant with a brief report on the additional information needed by PMI to complete their CV in the PMI format, plus suggestions for the multi-rater panel. Names in the CV and the multi-rater panel are cross linked by PMI. This initiative is expected to save PgMP applicants between 8 and 12 hours of effort.

For more information see our PgMP Home Page.

PgMP Course up and running

Mosaic’s Program Management Professional course is up and running! Developing a cost effective delivery method that accommodates the busy working life of most program managers has not been simple.

Our unique One-on-One mentored delivery model is designed to support PgMP candidate through the work needed to achieve the three phases of the PgMP certification process at a pace that suites the requirements of each individual. We offer the resources and support needed to pass: all you have to do is the work!

To achieve this, we have replaced class time with a scheduled telephone call from one of Mosaic’s mentors at each step through the course. Using VOIP we can deliver this support cost effectively world-wide, but at present only have English language capability.

For more on the PgMP course and our One-on-One delivery methodology see:
http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/Training-PgMP_One-on-One.html

The upside of Risk

I am amazed by the number of project management commentators who flatly refuse to recognise that  risk = uncertainty that matters and that uncertainty can be positive or negative (ie, it’s uncertain).

The latest commentator in a long line of negative thinkers is Michael Hatfield in PMI’s Voices on Project Management blog. His approach to risk suggested in ‘PMBOK® Guide for the Trenches, Part 4: Risk’ is simplistic and assumes all uncertainties are negative…..

There are numerous problems with this simplistic view of the world:

• Firstly the same risk – a future uncertainty – can have both an upside and a downside. Failing to manage the upside equates to guaranteeing failure (or at least missing opportunities).
  • Future weather conditions are a risk; they could be good or bad. A major motorway near my home town was finished months early and under budget because they were lucky enough to build the project at the tail end of a 10 year drought. The last few months have had above average rain. If the people building the road only worried about the ‘downside’ risk the road would only just be finishing now.
  • A similar example is the management actions taken to accelerate work on the Panama Canal through the GFC to take advantage of then upside risk of lower construction costs.
• Second, the environment around projects does not stop changing just because someone has signed off a cost performance baseline. Ongoing risk assessments are critical to avoid surprises; good or bad! The more warning of changed circumstances the project team have the more likely they are to manage the situation effectively.

One of our key areas of expertises is stakeholder management – each stakeholder can be a threat to the project if badly managed and a supporter if well managed. The Stakeholder Circle® methodology has been explicitly developed to first prioritise stakeholders then focus on the important high priority stakeholders to achieve an optimal level of support to allow the project to succeed (for more see
http://www.stakeholder-management.com/
)

Where we do agree with Michael is on the mumbo jumbo of statistical paralysis many so called risk management systems bog down in. The purpose of risk management is to identify opportunities and threats and then actually do something about them. Recording risks in a risk register and then qualitatively and quantitatively analysing them is a complete and total waste of time unless someone actually takes action. This is the focus of our ‘How To’ build a Risk Management Plan workshop – yes we have a cute Excel risk register but the purpose is action not documentation.

The biggest weakness in the current version of the PMBOK® Guide is the total omission of a process for treating risks. The idea of risk treatment is implied, but not overtly set out as a process, which allows people to think identification and analysis is the end game. Unfortunately managers need to make decisions based on the risk assessment and then take actions if risk management is going to deliver any benefits at all. Hopefully the 5th Edition will fix this.