The art of execution
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The document provides 10 secrets for managing successful projects from an experienced project manager. It discusses the importance of having a detailed plan and schedule, daily stand-up meetings, managing issues and risks, clear communication, mediating team discussions, managing scope, addressing resource issues, and caring about the project's success. Project management fundamentals like scope, schedule, budget, risk, and issues are also covered.
The art of execution
- 1. The Art of Execution Top 10 Secrets of Managing Successful Projects Crystal Taggart, PMP Atlas Innovations LLC
- 2. About Atlas Innovations • Founded in 2012 • Specializes in software prototyping, project sourcing, and project management • About Crystal Taggart – Technologist and Entrepreneur – 16 Years of IT Experience from development to management – PMP certified project manager since 2006 – Led projects onshore, offshore, nearshore
- 3. Project Management? Why bother? • Why do you care about project management? – Most projects fail in one (or more) of these categories: • Scope • Schedule • Budget
- 4. Project Management Basics • There are 5 key measurements that I track as a part of my projects: – Scope: What is being delivered – Schedule: When each feature will be delivered and by whom – Budget: How much will it cost – Risk: Areas of concern within the project – Issues: Problems within the project
- 5. The Triangle If ANY one of these change…they ALL change Budget
- 6. Planning For Projects • Procurement Strategies • Handling Issues/Risks • User Adoption
- 7. Procurement Strategies Fixed Bid – Vendor provides services Time & Materials – Vendor is for a fixed dollar amount paid hourly for services • Beware of: • Beware of: – Low quality – Scope changes – Long Timeframes – Inaccurate time tracking – Scope Changes – Inaccurate estimates • How to Mitigate – Find another Vendor for QA • How to Mitigate – Payment based on % complete – Use a time tracking system – Incentivize to complete faster – Track progress closely – Heavily document your – Always write into the contract requirements and plan for change requests – it will ‘not to exceed’ a specific happen dollar amount
- 8. Plan for Surprises • In ALL projects, something happens to cause a delay – i.e. illness, resource issues, bad estimates, missed requirements • Be prepared to adjust • Find ways to protect yourself – If working with a vendor, write into the contract to protect yourself from resource changes
- 9. User Adoption • If you build it, they may not come • This is often a huge failure point for many projects
- 10. Agile vs. Waterfall Agile Waterfall • 1-3 week deliveries of • Figure out what to build, working software called a are NOTthen build, and repeat These methodologies mutually exclusive Sprint • Developers work with • Developers work directly analysts who design with teams to deliver software (less business • Looser requirements interaction) • User Stories • Detailed Use Cases • Daily scrum meeting
- 11. Waterfall Pros/Cons Pros Cons • Very clear scope definition • Can spend tremendous • Very clear roles on the team amounts of time defining (analyst, developer, QA, what to build only to find business sponsor) that it’s cost prohibitive to go build it • Typically a much longer cycle
- 12. Agile Pros/Cons Pros Cons • Rapid delivery • Easy to push scope into the • Tight team communication “next sprint” • Great for bundling minor • Often start with vague enhancement/defect requirements and design releases software on the fly • If you have a developer who • Easy to miss deadlines if understands both business someone is sick, on and technology, Agile is vacation, etc. perfect for this!
- 13. Top 10 Secrets for Getting Projects Done
- 14. 1. Have a detailed plan and schedule • Know who is doing what, when it’s due, and why it needs to be done • Allow the team to estimate their own tasks • Ask questions/challenge the team • Be aware of the critical path – This is the shortest amount of time a project can take – If a critical path task slips on the project, the entire schedule is delayed – Examples: Deployment to app store, infrastructure setup • The plan is the plan until you have a new plan
- 15. 2. Have a daily scrum • Entire team meets 10-15 Minutes a day • Cover what happened yesterday, what is the plan for today, any “blockers” or issues that are impeding progress • Be consistent, same time every day • DOCUMENT the notes
- 16. 3. Manage your issues and risks • Don’t stick your head in the sand and hope it’s not a problem • Understand WHY something is a problem – Sometimes a mountain is created out of a molehill – Understand the probability something will happen – There is usually manual workarounds that can be devised – Don’t automate solutions for blue moon scenarios • Track and follow-up!
- 17. 4. Don’t Assume Your Developer Knows Business Priorities/Strategy • Collaboration is good, too much and you end up at the beginning • Most developers work on a mindset “I can build whatever you want if you tell me what you want” • Focus on the Pareto curve – There is a happy medium between focusing on the 80% vs. 20%. Developers are detail-oriented and they focus on 20% of the scenarios
- 18. 5. Answer the tough questions up- front • Do NOT cross that bridge when you come to it • Get advice and feedback on how to solve a problem before you have your development team begin
- 19. 6. Communicate, communicate, communicate! • Many people won’t start until prompted, many people won’t communicate when their task is complete to the next person in the project. Don’t assume that people are talking to each other! • Find the ways that the team like to communicate • Things won’t get done unless you are communicating
- 20. 7. Mediate, mediate, mediate! • There are many ways to solve an issue and often if you bring teams together to discuss, it’s easy to come up with the best solution • Discuss all the ideas on the table, pros/cons, project impact and project risk, usually a clear winner will emerge
- 21. 8. Manage your scope • If you don’t manage your scope, it will manage you • Scope changes come from everywhere, even your developers • If you hear the words “refactor” you need to understand why – this means “rewrite” in Dev-speak – this means “regression test” in QA-speak – This means extra time and $$$ in PM-speak
- 22. 9. Address Resource Issues Head-On • If someone is constantly encountering issues or missing their deliverables, get rid of them! It drains the energy of the team and costs you money and time • Here’s some things that I look for in the team members I hire: – What was the most complex issue they solved? Did they solve it or did “the team” solve it? – What projects have they worked on with a difficult peer or business customer? (Are they the difficult peer?) – What project did they work on that was late? (Everyone has had a late project.) Look for people who accept accountability to deliver results, not people who blame someone on the project for the results.
- 23. 10. CARE! • If you don’t care about your project, noone else will either • Be excited about creating something awesome • Celebrate every win! Create momentum every where you can!
- 24. Some Resources • The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management – Amazon.com - Great resource, an easy read, and lots of templates • Paymo.biz: Time-tracking software at $5/month per person • The Software Planning Checklist – On http://www.Atlas-Innovations.com/checklist
- 25. Questions?