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Wayne Brantley & Dan Munson

While this is the fifth of the great secrets to project success, the list is not ranked in order of importance. We could probably identify this as priority one. I am a firm believer in “it starts at the top.” If you have “C” level support for an initiative you are halfway there. Look at Six Sigma and what it has done with the support of Jack Welch. GE was able to identify billions of dollars of savings. Jack Welch has stated that “six sigma must be a part of the corporate DNA for GE.” Now that is taking a stand, and with a high level officer like Welch supporting an initiative at GE, it gets the momentum and attention that it needs.

As I said, with C level support you are halfway there. What is the other half? The organization as a whole needs to embrace PM philosophy and methodology. Start with communication and education about what and why you are implementing the new processes and tools. Make it user friendly and a part of your implementation plan. Show them value and how it will make their lives better.

Start your own grass roots effort by training key personnel. Offer the appropriate amount of training that different segments of the workforce need. Begin with awareness training – maybe a 4 hour overview of the concept to provide a 50,000 foot view. Then provide a basic level of training to establish a common language and understanding of processes. For those who will go on to advanced roles provide advanced training and tools training. This training will prepare a workforce with a common goal and a common vision. By training your workforce and your project managers you will implement a culture of project management with a body of project leaders.

These five secrets are not really secrets – many of you will see that they are based on common sense. You may also recognize that these are not the actions you see taken in your organization. These five simple common sense actions will help you and your organization realize the power and potential of effective project management.

For more on organizational culture, listen to today’s podcast, the fifth part of a five-part series.

• The importance of managing resistance
• Your first projects must generate results
• Six Sigma is not a quality program
• Cost savings should be considered a byproduct, not the primary goal
• Over reliance on a Black Belt or team lead is the wrong approach
• The major reasons Six Sigma projects fail

Think about the steps you took toward becoming a project manager. You got a job. You got good at the job. You became really good at what you do – they then put you in as “The Project Manager.” Why? I know you’re highly educated from the University of Hard Knocks. What has occurred is that you got good at what you love to do and now you can’t do that any more.

We as human beings like to do what we are good at. We feel self esteem in this space. We also feel comfortable in this space. People tend to resist change; it takes us out of our comfort zone. Project managers are notorious for having highly developed technical skills, while lacking in interpersonal skills. This is the reason for many a project failure – and you thought it was all because of a bad Gantt chart.

How do you change this? Start with a project management development plan. Plan a career path for project managers. Develop them, don’t just appoint them. The army used to have a good system in which you could stay technical or move into administrative/management type roles and receive the same pay and promotions either way. Not everyone wants to be an administrator or manager. Project managers have a lot to learn, just look at the PMI Body of Knowledge.

Out of all the qualifications good project managers need, leadership skills may be the most difficult. Why is this? One reason is that these efforts engage the most complex systems we know of – people. When you factor in all the personalities, backgrounds, education and cultures on your team, difficulties should be expected. You, in turn, have your own personality, background, education and cultural experience. This all adds up to a very complicated formula that requires a lot of understanding of human motivation theory.

In addition to understanding people as individuals you must understand group dynamics. How do you take a group of individuals with diverse backgrounds and make them into a cohesive high performing team? Effort, education, and the patience of a saint would be my recommendation. The Tuckman model identifies a teams development as; forming, storming, norming, and performing. This is a nice neat package that identifies what you can expect to experience as your team develops. You need to take the time to develop the skills to facilitate these issues and become a great leader.

For more on leadership skills, listen to today’s podcast, the fourth part of a five-part series.

Topics covered in this podcast include the following:

• Methods to make Six Sigma part of everyone’s job description
• How to close out projects to ensure management’s active involvement in process, not just function
• How to change reward and recognition systems so Six Sigma is embraced more enthusiastically and quickly
• The important role of communication in cultural transformation
• What your efforts should look like two/three years out, and beyond

 A common theme that I have seen has been an organizational push for project management and a desire to know what they get for their investment. The ROI of Project Management presentation at PMI was attended by well over 100 people and was requested for an encore presentation. Many discuss the challenges of developing their workforce with the demands that they have on their projects. They see the need for a quality online program as an option to ensuring a high quality training program that has measurable results. Villanova University is the program of choice for many.

In addition, many organizations want to participate in a study that the ROI Institute and I are heading up to evaluate the value of project management. If you would like to participate, contact me at Wayne.Brantley@VillanovaU.com.

In this podcast, George Eckes covers the history of Six Sigma since 1985, when it was first introduced at Motorola, through its evolution at Allied Signal and its triumph at General Electric in the 1990s. Along the way, Six Sigma transforms from an attempt to reign in quality issues at Motorola to a comprehensive and culture-transforming business philosophy at GE. With input from key players at each stage of Six Sigma’s development, as well as George Eckes’ own keen insight, this makes for a compelling story, whether you’re new to the history of Six Sigma or already familiar with the subject.

What is a risk? It is an uncertain event that can result in a positive (yes positive) or negative outcome. It never ceases to amaze me: we know that things will go wrong on our projects, yet we’re often in denial about the fact, thinking we can handle them as they arise. The one team member you always can count on is “Murphy,” as in Murphy’s Law, what can go wrong will go wrong.

Back to planning again – poor planning will result in poor risk management. As you read this ask yourself, “Self, how have you seen risk management performed in organizations?” Often this process is not properly executed. Risk management has a set of processes that also must be given due respect. They are as follows:

• Risk Management Planning – identifying how as organization and at the project level you should perform risk management. Risk management is scalable to the project.
• Risk Identification – an exhaustive exploration of all the possible risks that you could have on a project. At this point none are ruled out or ranked.
• Qualitative Risk Analysis – probability and impacts are determined to analyze the likelihood that the risk could occur.
• Quantitative Risk Analysis – a more mathematical approach to further analyzing risk probabilities and impacts.
• Risk Response Planning – this is when plans are developed to determine how the risks could be handled.
• Risk Monitoring and Control – the continued observance of risk management processes. Determine if contingency plans were effective and if the risks will reoccur.

These are processes that must be done iteratively throughout the lifecycle of the project; doing them once will result in limited risk identification. As you build your project plan do some risk management. Continue updating your risk management plan throughout the development of your project plan and throughout your project. The processes are not difficult, just time consuming.

For more on risk management, listen to today’s podcast, the third part of a five-part series.

• Six Sigma as a management philosophy
• How Six Sigma is different from other quality initiatives
• Why Six Sigma is so successful
• The three major components of Six Sigma

Six Sigma means many things to many people – in fact, Eckes compares it to the old Indian story about the blind men and the elephant. One man feels the tusk of the elephant and says it’s a spear, a second touches the elephant’s belly and decides it’s a wall, the third grasps the tail and thinks he’s touching a snake. What does Six Sigma feel like to you and your organization?

With the whole city at the victory parade I was glad to see some 400+ here at the conference sharing and learning project management and business analysis. Many are concerned on the application process for the IIBA certification. If any of you have input, share, by all means.

I presented “Earned Value in Under an Hour.” Earned Value is sought out as a necessary process to manage their budgets and schedules. All agree something must be done to overcome the alarming data that over 70% of projects fail. Budgets and schedules must be managed and controlled. Could EV be the silver bullet? I think it can be one of the bullets. Look for a couple of blog entries on the subject in coming weeks.

Regards from Boston from a life long New York Yankee fan. Just one thing, the Yankess lead 26 – 7 in the world series ring score.