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Work Life Balance in Project Management

Get a Work / Life Balance on Projects—Part I

What is a “Work / Life Balance”? To us, it’s “getting the maximum enjoyment from your work time and personal time, every day”. This means really enjoying the time you have at work, and the time you spend after hours, so that you’re getting the most out of what life has to offer. The reverse of this is not enjoying your job, and not having a personal life. If you’re in that camp, then read these 10 tips to get back on track:

Tip 1: Prioritize

Sit down over a nice warm drink and ask yourself this question. “If this was your last day on this planet and you were reviewing your adult life to date, then what would you say about it and what would you wish you’d done differently?” Think long and hard about this question, then write down your answer. Now set out a clear vision for what you’re going to do differently, from this point onwards.

Remember, you may not need to make radical changes to improve your life. It’s usually just about priorities. Write down a new set of priorities for your life, ones that mean the most to you.

Tip 2: Set Goals

Now you need to set yourself 3 personal goals, to help you “get the maximum enjoyment from your work time and personal time every day”. For example, your goals might relate to your physical health, your personal time or the way you approach your work. The goals must together help you to achieve your perfect work /life balance (as defined above).

Tip 3: Watch your Hours

It makes sense that to achieve a perfect work/life balance, you need to enjoy both your work, and your personal life. If you work around the clock, then you may not get the time to have a personal life. So try and balance your work time, family time and personal time, so that you actually make time to achieve your goals.

Tip 4: Look after Yourself

You should now set out a health plan for the next 2 months, to make sure that you look after yourself as best as you can. Set simple goals for eating the right foods, exercizing 2-3 times a week and doing the little things that make you feel good. If you feel great, then you’ll gain tons of new energy you never new you had before, and you can throw this new energy into things that make you feel even better.

Tip 5: Socialize

We’re not all “social butterflies” but it’s a well known fact that socializing with good friends is a great way to reduce stress. Make a special effort to make a new friend sometime soon. It may sound corny, but new friendships often add spice to life.

These 5 tips, along with the 5 tips in the next newsletter will help you to get the most out of what life has to offer. At Method123, we care about you. So go for it—give it your best shot!

And there you have it. If you would like to download a set of Project Management Templates to help bring your project on track, then see Method123 —or Watch this video …

Think, Write, Do

1. Clear Thinking

When was that last time you sat down and did some serious thinking? I mean real, honest-to-goodness thinking. Without the radio on, or in front of the TV, no e-mail alerts or ringing phone or any of the typical distractions that create your normal operating state of partial attention.

Take some time for yourself, in fact, set an appointment to get away from those distractions and do some clear thinking about your goals, your responsibilities, your aspirations, your current status. Go out to the parking lot and sit in your car if you have to, but sit down and do it. Take a pen and a notebook with you, you’ll need it for the second key.

2. Write It Down

If you do not write down the results of your thinking, you will very likely forget them. As soon as you get hungry or your boss calls with some sort of idiot emergency all of your well-thought-out plans and ideas will vanish into the dark corners of your mind. Once these thoughts disappear, you will have a heck of a time rooting them out again.

Once your ideas have been written down, you can do two really useful things with them:

1. First, you can file them away safely, to be retrieved when you need them.
2. Second, you can look at them over and over, and expand on them.

Written ideas can be turned into goals, which can be expanded into plans (do you see where this is going?). Writing a detailed plan allows you to create actions steps that you can execute, one after the other, in order to reach your goal.

3. Do Something

Just because you are a slacker does not mean that you get to sit there and take up space. You have to do something to justify that paycheck. So pull out your written plan and do something on that list. Actually doing anything on your list will take you one step closer to fulfilling that goal. Do one more thing tomorrow and you’ve got a trend. Keep on doing just one thing at a time and before you know it, you are done.

There you have it, the three keys to success: Think, Write, Do. Could it be any easier? Now get going!

Source : www.slackermanager.com

Being on Top of the Project Management Game

An interesting expectation of being a Project Manager which member of the project have is that they expect the PM to know everything single thing about the project. From revenue numbers, technical details, dates, to resource availability. Part of this expectations might be true but the question is how do you keep up with this information so that you have it at the tip of your fingers in the event that its ever needed in the 2 minute elevator ride where the CEO of your company asks you this information in front of other colleagues, perhaps your boss or even some cunning PMs who would have a field day seeing you slip up.

Awareness : We all know that projects have different phases. Make sure you know the start and end dates of these phases along with top level resource allocation, scheduling and costing issues. This is a must. Remember your accountability is the same as a department heads - who needs to know what is happening in this office on a daily basis.

Preparation : I generally block out the first two hours on Monday morning to take a status update from the team members to see where everyone is. I try not to schedule a meeting first thing on Monday morning as I prefer to have a candid one-on-one chat with the team members to see where they are with their previous weeks tasks and ongoing deliverables. I often find I get more truth and honest feedback in these one-on-one sessions rather than in a group meeting. Following this I organise a team meeting during the later half of the day to focus on the key areas of discovery and delivery for the coming week. If you put in the necessary attention during this meeting you will realise that you have on front of you a roadmap of the critical tasks which need to be addressed….putting you in a perfect position of control.

Reflection : Its best to reflect on how the meeting went sometime on Monday evening itself. Think about if all the areas have been completed. Also put some effort in analysing the interaction of the various team members. Assess if the project team is in high spirits, are they getting any mind blocks? Are people getting stressed out with deadlines?

Communication : The timely execution of projects depends a lot on prompt and timely communication. I have learnt the hard way that attending meetings does not mean that the attendees proactively take away their to-do lists and follow up on them in a timely manner. Its important for you as the PM to communicate deliverables and weekly to-dos in a timely manner. Failure to do so will only get you so far. You can keep the communication simple for small sized projects. For the bigger projects its best to have a structured communication system in place where all the stakeholders are periodically kept abreast of latest developments.

Virtual Projects - Cultures, Confusion and Control

My role as a project manager requires me to manage projects across Asia and Europe. I have recently embarked on a project in Korea which is providing to be a very interesting experience. I have worked in projects across different geographies but I have never encountered a situation of their being a communication barrier due to cultural and language differences. I thought this would be an interesting topic to blog on as the related outcomes of managing a project in such a scenario had very definite outcomes and results which might actually put you the project manager in the spotlight for not actually managing the process well.

Timeliness : The language gap requires the PM to be dependent on a third party to communicate the issues at hand. The response times taken even to review functional documents, specifications and business requirements puts a lot of pressure on the overall project timelines.

Accuracy & Interpretation : There is a risk that facts, figures and specific crucial information may get lost in translation. Even the best translators can goof up on this. Differences in educational philosophies and exposure to international standards can also be an impediment. As a PM you need to also ensure that even if you have a superior solution, that this is not relayed across to the client in an arrogant manners. Different cultures have varying levels of sensitivities. In asia it is always important to ’save the face’ of your counterpart.

Cultural Divide : What may seem as a matter of economics or principle may not be the case when dealing with different cultures. Often there are more things which are at stake. You as a foreigner will not know this and are required to be patient……yes be patient.

Reporting : One of the mistakes I made initially was that since everyone knew that we were in the ‘waiting mode’ for things to fall in place during the initial stages of the project… i didnt keep a weekly communication channel with the stakeholders in my company. As a result after a couple of weeks, people began to think that I was slacking and that the project fell off the wheels. It was interesting to note this but although there was no ‘internal communication’ there was enough documentation flying around to ensure the concerned parties that this was not the case. Lesson learnt - ALWAYS COMMUNICATE irrespective of the project status and slow outcomes.

Control : You will find it hard to take control of project matters with your client. This is again due to the communication issues. I find that the best way to get things across sensitive issues is to do it in a cordial friendly manner across the table over a cup of tea. It will be a challenge but it can be done with the right amount of tact and sincerity.

These are some of the issues which I have observed. I would absolutely like to hear what your experiences have been with managing projects across different geographies and cultures. So go on whats been your experience?

Turning Around Failing Projects

Most Project Managers have been there. You’re assigned a project that’s going off the rails and you’re expected to turn it around. Where do you start? Why is it failing? What should you do to get it back on track?
 
People who exceed in these roles are called “turn-around specialists” and it’s a discipline of its own. Yet Project Managers are often asked to do it. So we thought we’d offer some tips and advice here, on:

Great– you’ve been assigned to a new project, but things are already going crazy. Your team are dissatisfied, your deliverables are late and your budget has already been exceeded. Your Project Sponsor is unhappy and no-one really knows who the customer is. Where do you start?
 
Confirmation

 
The first thing to do is to find the documented vision for the project, go to the Sponsor and confirm that it’s still accurate. If there is no vision, then you need to create one pretty darned quickly. Identify the key project stakeholders and get them to agree on exactly what the project must achieve, by when and whom for. Only with a solid vision will you have a clear stake in the ground from which to move forward.
 
Review

 
Next, you need to find out what’s going on. Why are the team unhappy? Why is everything late etc. Identify the top 10 things that need to be fixed to get the project back on track. Don’t look back, only look forward.
 
Don’t do a post mortem. Instead make it a short, sharp review that identifies the key issues affecting the project. Involve your team as much as possible, as you need their buy-in.
 
Quick Wins

 
You need to build confidence with your Sponsor and more importantly, your team. Choose a couple of issues that you know you can solve immediately, and once solved, communicate it to your team.
 
Plan of Attack

 
Only now, will you have a good feel for the project issues and what it will take to resolve them. You can now create a plan of attack. Identify the actions to be taken by all of the team, to deliver the project vision successfully. We say “all” of the team, as you need to gain the buy-in of your entire team to get the show on the road.
 
Then take your plan to your Sponsor and get their support. Don’t be afraid to ask for more money, time or resource as this is the time to ask for it. If you ask now while you’re fresh in the role, it won’t reflect on you. Don’t wait until you’re near the end of the project before you ask.
 
Rally

 
With your Project Sponsors support, get the project team together, for a single communications event. Tell them what you’ve found, what needs to be fixed and how you plan to do it. Tell them about the quick wins that have already been made and how you know that if everyone focuses on the plan ahead, you can deliver successfully.
 
Milestones

 
Set clear milestones that everyone understands. Put the milestones and plan of attack on a wall chart to make them visible. Then meet regularly to discuss their progress.
 
Love, Hugs and Tears

 
Then love your high performing staff, hug your underperformers who show promise, and shed no tears at having to change staff that show no signs of buying in to your action plan. It’s onwards and upwards!
 
Want a Project Management Methodology that helps you get projects back on track? Download a free trial edition of MPMM now.

Source : Method 123

Assessing Scope Risk

Scope risk, also known as technical risk, is the risk of not meeting the customer acceptance criteria for your project’s final deliverable. There are several reasons why project managers must assess and plan for scope risk including to:

• Increase the team’s chance of producing an acceptable final deliverable
  
• Determine what obstacles or problems might affect the team’s ability to create the deliverables
  
• Assess whether the scope risk rating is under the scope risk limit as defined in the project charter
  
• Determine countermeasures or ways in which obstacles or potential problems can be overcome
  
• Communicate the risk profile throughout the organization
  

There are three steps to assess scope risk:

Step #1

Identify the technical risks for each final deliverable, and then assign a risk rating to the deliverable.

Create a risk rating by assigning both a probability and an impact to each risk by using a scale of 1 to 10. Probability refers to the likelihood that the risk will occur and impact refers to how seriously the risk will affect the project’s objectives.

Once you have created both a probability rating and an impact rating for each risk, multiply them together to create an overall rating for each risk. This determines which risks are most important and allows you to eliminate insignificant risks.

Step #2

Compare the team’s risk rating to the risk limit in the charter and create countermeasures. There are two types of countermeasures, preventative and reactive.

Preventative countermeasures prevent the risk from occurring. An example of a preventative countermeasure is purchasing puncture-proof tires for your vehicle.

Reactive countermeasures come into play if the risk should occur. An example is to carry a spare tire in the trunk of your car.

Step #3

Make someone accountable for each countermeasure. If your project includes subprojects, assign accountability to the team leader of the subproject where the countermeasure best fits.

Source: PMI Community Post

Key Must Have Project Templates

Change Request and Log

Dashboard Reports

Framework Checklist

Interface Definition

Issues Log

Microsoft Project Global

Plan Quality Review Checklist

Project Closeout Review Checklist

Project Definition

Project Proposal / Business Case

Risk Assessment

Risk Management Plan

Team Roster

Tracking Updates