Good Project Management is pro-active;  the moment you slack off, things start unraveling…

Critics of Change sometimes add value

July 24, 2012

We all know managing change is challenging, and that one of the major issues to deal with are those who resist change.  Sometimes that resistance is simply out of fear, sometimes due to misunderstanding the change, sometimes because folks view the change as negative for them.  However, sometimes those critics have valid concerns that when addressed add value to the process.  Don’t Dismiss Critics of Change- Not everyone will be excited about change. People who resist are often perceived as inflexible obstacles to overcome. But don’t think of them simply as barriers to success. While some people do undermine change efforts, it is shortsighted to think everyone will, or even want to. Try to understand why people are resistant. Ask what they are concerned about and listen to their criticism. Doing so may uncover valid concerns that need to be addressed. Put everyone’s perspectives to use and make resisters a part of the solution.

Adapted from the Harvard ManageMentor Online Module: Change Management.

5th Edition PMBOK Guide Exposure Draft

The 5^th Edition PMBOK Guide Exposure Draft is out; see the link for Andy Crowe's analysis.  If history is a guide, we might expect to see it formally published the beginning of 2013, and something like a 6 mo. period after that to be able to take the PMP exam based on the now existing 4th ed.  If your thinking of taking the PMP exam and have already studied the existing edition, your probably better off completing your PMP under the 4th ed.

http://www.velociteach.com/2012/02/thoughts-on-the-5th-edition-pmbok-guide-exposure-draft/

Below is a summary of how PMI grades the PMP:

Passing Score for PMP Exam Changed

 By Brian Summerfield, Web Editor —

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has lowered the minimum score required to pass its well-known Project Management Professional exam. The revised PMP test, which went live on Sept. 30, had an overall percentage passing point set at 141 correctly answered questions, but lowered that to 106 questions after PMP officials determined the difficulty of the exam exceeded the level of skill it was intended to verify.  Denny Smith, PMI's manager of certification, emphasized that the adjustment of the passing score is a regular and often necessary process for examinations that have undergone a significant revision. �While we have adjusted the passing score to reflect the increased difficulty of the examination, the pass rate adjustment will not impact the level of preparedness of the professional; rather, it will ensure that they are adequately credentialed to receive the PMP credential,� he said. The PMP exam was revised to increase the number of situational questions against knowledge-recall items, Smith said. Other non-test related changes involved the application process: That now requires candidates provide documentation on their experience with leading and directing project tasks as well as supervisor information, and also entails a more thorough application review on the part of PMI. �The difficulty factor is evidence of the rigor in the new exam and the lower percentage of people passing the new exam�low 70 percent range as compared to 80 percent with the previous exam,� he explained.
With regards the exam itself, PMI initially launched a test with a passing score developed by a volunteer group of global PMPs trained in the Modified Angoff Technique, a customary method for setting performance level cut points for large-scale assessments, and one known for its flexibility and adaptability to specific program requirements, Smith said. He added that the organization used established exam development methods in the follow-up changes that pertained solely to the passing score, not any of the questions themselves.
�In the long run, the PMP credential will continue to be strengthened by the caliber of candidates who pass the new examination,� he said. �In sum, the exam is not changing, nor are the questions. The pass score is the component that is being modified and, in the long term, the PMP exam will be stronger as a result, and so will the credentialed professional project mangers in response to the expressed needs of the marketplace. It�s important to note that the change in the exam is reflective of the maturation of the profession. While we remain extremely sensitive to candidates� concerns about any change in the passing score, these considerations must be weighed in the context of PMI�s goal to provide a consistent global standard that ensures the PMP certification is awarded to appropriately credentialed individuals.�
 http://www.certmag.com/read.php?in=1574
For more information, see http://www.pmi.org.

How Often Do Projects Fail & Success Factors

How Often Do Projects Fail and How Can This be Measured?

In a 2003 article Julia King(10) reports, "At companies that aren't among the top 25% of technology users, three out of 10 IT projects fail on average.

• Translation: for these companies an amazing 30% of IT projects fail.
  
• Now if you are an extremely optimistic person you might conclude the good news is that 70% of these projects succeed. But note that King does not tell us how many of the 70% of the "successful" projects were over budget, over time, or defective in function upon completion.

According to the 1994 Standish CHAOS Report, there are.

The top 5 factors found in successful projects are:

1. User Involvement

2. Executive Management Support

3. Clear Statement of Requirements

4. Proper Planning

5. Realistic Expectations

These are the top 5 of 10 listed in the report. The report concludes that these were the elements that were most often pointed to as major contributors to project success. Will these elements alone guarantee success? Never. But if these are done well, a project, according to the
Standish Group, will have a much higher probability of success.

The next category of differentiators from the Standish report deals with projects that proved to be "Challenged;" that is they were completed buy were over budget, over time, or did not contain all functions and features originally required.

The top 5 indicators found in "Challenged" projects are:

1. Lack of User Input

2. Incomplete Requirements & Specifications

3. Changing Requirements & Specifications

4. Lack of Executive Support

5. Technical Incompetence

And finally a list of all the top factors found in "Failed" projects

1. Incomplete Requirements

2. Lack of user involvement

3. Lack of Resources

4. Unrealistic Expectations

5. Lace of Executive Support

6. Changing Requirements & Specifications

7. Lack of Planning

8. Didn't Need it Any Longer

9. Lack of IT management

10. Technical Illiteracy

Notice in the above three project outcomes, user involvement is listed as the first or second item in each.

Above excerpts from:
Robert Frese
Dr. Vicki Sauter
UM-St. Louis, December 16, 2003

Congrats to Ed Machado - passed the PMP exam 1/20/2012

Another former student success story- Congrats Ed!
-
Lessons Learned:
What I did to prepare for the exam: I took two courses (Quality, Managing Mult. Projects) at UCI extended education to get my required educational hours. I purchased "The PMP Exam: How To Pass On Your First Try," 4th ed., by Crowe. I read it cover to cover during the three weeks prior to the exam. I took each practice exam at the end of the chapter and PMP practice exam at the end of the book. I also took an online practice exam at www.veociteach.com (free with the purchase of the book). I was averaging about 85% on the practice test questions. I spent about 2 hours a night during the work week and about 8 hours on the weekend. Most of the questions that I encountered on the exam were similar to what I saw in my studies. My feeling is that I probably dropped about 10%, to 75%, in terms of percent correct due to exam stress. It took me the full 4 hours to complete. I did not have much time to review/check my answers (maybe about 5 minutes). If you have previous work experience (I have about 15 years) in using PM methodologies, you're good at self-study, and you're short on time (aren't we all!), I would recommend this method.

Ed Machado, PMP
Supply Management Process Improvement Manager
Southern California Edison

Earned Schedule

What if we wanted to know not just how much schedule variance we might have in dollars or work units, but how much calendar or time variance our project has? Well, there is a way to use Earned Value methodology to arrive at what is called "Earned Schedule."

Earned Value provides Schedule Variance in units (typically money). "You're $12,500 behind schedule," is useful once we understand the meaning, but also sounds funny, and tells us nothing about what that means in units of time. Does a dollar = a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month. To find out we need to know the labor rate for the work effort being performed. For a collection of Work Packages with various rates it could be difficult to make the calculation (not to mention the material/ODC aspects). Furthermore, when we are reported to folks who are not familiar with EVM (like some senior management types), it is hard to communicate the meaning of SV.

Enter Earned Schedule. Using Earned Value and Planned Value, the schedule variance in the traditional Earned Value view looks like the following:

EV

SV = Schedule Variance = EV - PV. Both these metrics and the resulting variance have units of money.

For Earned Schedule, the visualization of Schedule Variance answers the question, "on what day should we be earning the planned value for the work being performed?"

ES

If you "take" Earned Value "today," that is calculate EV using Physical Percent Complete or some other credible assessment of progress and determine the day that value was planned to be achieved, then you can tell if you are ahead or behind schedule. If the currently measured EV is achieved on the same day your had planned to achieve that value - the PV for today, then you're on schedule.

If EV≠PV now (the measurement day), then you're off.

Looking backward (or foreword) for the day EV = PV for today, tells you the day you should have achieved the planned EV. This backward duration is how late you are in DAYS, not "money."

This process reveals the essence of Earned Schedule.

Draft US GAO Schedule Assessment Guide (SAG)

	US GAO Sets Sights on Scheduling
The U.S. GAO has now drafted a Schedule Assessment Guide (SAG); in 2009 they put out a GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide depicting their version of Best Practices for Developing and Managing Capital Program Costs (www.gao.gov/new.items/d093sp.pdf). There are big schedules and small schedules and long schedules and short schedules. GAO will use the SAG as they perform their job in reviewing programs undertaken by US departments and agencies. They have listed ten best practices found in good schedules and will be expanding on each in the SAG with checklists. Here are the ten:  capturing all activities  sequencing all activities  assigning resources to all activities  establishing durations for all activities  schedule is traceable horizontally and vertically  ensuring a valid critical path  ensuring reasonable total float  schedule risk analysis  updating the schedule using logic and progress  maintaining a baseline schedule Want to review and comment on the exposure draft? Contact Karen Richey, director of the SAG project. You are sure to be aware of its availability when it's released -Partial content from: Ray Stratton, PMP, EVP EVM Newsletter #28

Reference Texts for preparing to take PMP exam

There are obviously numerous books one can use to prepare for taking the PMP exam. The two I have used the last several years for the classes I personally teach are:

Achieve PMP Exam Success, 4th Edition: A Concise Study Guide for the Busy Project Manager

by Margaret Chu, Diane Altwies and Janice Preston. Mostly good, a few mistakes (check for the errata), some questions a bit too simple. No new edition reflecting the latest "Scenario based" PMP exam.

PMP Exam Prep, Seventh Edition: Rita's Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Exam
by Rita Mulcahy (Author). This text version is the only one I have heard about that seems to reflect the latest "Scenario based" PMP exam (although I have not reviewed the 7th ed.). One might keep in mind that Rita passed away prior to this edition being released, so the value of the 7th ed. over the 6th may be questionable.

Some folks like to use more than one text, but IMHO if you have taken a Certificate PM program one text plus the PMBOK is sufficient. I would give Rita's 7th ed. a bit of an edge considering the new PMP exam version.