Tag: Project

Conflict Management – Yes, every project has some and what I can do to help resolve them.

On any complex ERP project the risk is not if you will encounter conflict but when you will encounter it. Conflict on a project is imminent and if handled and facilitated correctly can lead to the surfacing of new ideas for the issues on hand. Therefore, some conflict can lead to actually improving your project delivery.

Some major contentious issues that lead to conflict on an ERP project are:

May 8, 2015

Project Budgeting and the Questions You Should Ask

Budgets are one of the 3 pillars that hold-up a project and they ensure that there is enough of “it” to support the other 2, viz. scope and time. All three are just as important but for a successful project implementation a smart budget is at its core.

The PMBOK talks about several methods we can use for budgeting but the one that is my favorite and is most accurate is “bottom-up estimating”. When using this method we break down each task into a smaller component and such a component can be assigned anywhere from 8-16 hours to complete. We then work our way up into estimates of higher-level deliverables.

March 11, 2015

Signoffs, what are they? Why are they important?

They (signoffs) play a very significant role in the project lifecycle and add tremendous value and leads to an overall positive outcome to your project. But like everything else, there is a time and a place to use signoffs. Using a signoff should not cause and be looked at as an unnecessary burden.

I have seen that using signoffs during a software implementation that is using a waterfall methodology is most appropriate. There are distinct phases, each phase is broken out into more granular tasks and everyone is aware going into the project on what happens next.

January 23, 2015

A 40 hour week in 60 minutes – The Status Report

In college during a project management class the instructor was looking for 2 volunteers to act as scribes and present an executive level status report of the course being taught that day. When we met the following week each of us had a 5-page document that covered every aspect of the previous class in great detail. The detail part is a superb quality for a project manager but the instructor actually went around the class, collecting everyone’s copy of the report and promptly dropped it into the recycle bin.

The moral of the story was clear to us: Most people do not have enough time to read what is already on their desk so why clutter their “To Do” list with a 5 page thesis.

December 29, 2014

How to Balance Your Consulting Life Without Going Crazy

A long time ago I started a family and after taking some time off work completely, I was ready to get back to into the game. However, being a mom, I did not want to have a typical 9 to 5 job because I needed to be available to take my kids to school as well as continue to be the main caregiver. I eventually took a job doing consulting work. Consulting, to me, makes me think of having some freedom within your schedule and not the typical 9 to 5 hours. (A testament to this statement is that it is currently 9pm on a Monday and I am writing this. The down side is that I left my house to go to work at 7am this morning and am still working.) But I do enjoy my job. It consists of new implementations, software upgrades, training, and support. Something new that challenges me everyday. But the question still remains (and sometimes, I still struggle with) is how does one handle the process of juggling the demand of multiple clients, multiple projects, and a family life outside of work?

November 24, 2014

Your Thanksgiving Day Dinner vs. Your ERP Project

Tis the season when most get excited about the holidays and gather with friends and family in celebration. For some, the holidays are stressful. There is planning, preparation, execution, and clean up and doing so all on top of your regular daily routines. Oh and it isn’t always just for one holiday but for two, three, or more in a 2 month period. I’m just going to think about Thanksgiving.

November 13, 2014

Responsibility vs. Blame

In the many organizations and projects I have been through, I always hear someone saying these words, “We must have more accountability around here.” But, in reality what they ‘really’ mean is, “I want to know whom to blame when something goes wrong”. We assume that by early identification of a scapegoat you have put the fear of blame in you or at least the fear of consequences related to that blame and further assume that fear is an effective motivator.

October 28, 2014

How to Build Those Perfect Requirements

As a first step to any project, gathering and understanding requirements is vital to your success; and yet we spend little to no time on this very important process. Identifying and involving the appropriate stakeholders during the requirements phase is just as important as eliciting those perfect requirements.

I spent many years as a business analyst, and I have found that for me the most effective way to elicit requirements was to conduct requirement workshops. In this workshop, I identify specific topics on my agenda and pick stakeholders with clout, i.e. those that are well versed in their specific business units. Also, I push for using stakeholders from different business units to give the workshop the benefit of multiple perspectives.

September 30, 2014