Forensics for Project Management

Challenge to all: Can you describe your organizations strategy (and key metrics)?

Author of "Flavour of the Month," Martin VanDerSchouw spoke to an audience at the PMI MileHi October chapter meeting.

Martin walks you through the toughest challenges facing your business using a story-telling method that uncovers an organization's deficiencies and allows the audience to collectively analyze and conclude logical strategies to do their own transformations.


Key take-aways:
Only 2 things happen in an org; Operations and new projects. Project management professionals (PMPs) are change agents. You are willing to change when its your idea, but people don't like to be changed.

Understand "buy-in" versus "ownership"
The ham and eggs analogy shows that the chicken has buy-in, but the pig is invested! When your team has buy-in, they can opt-out when the going gets tough.
When a team has ownership, they are committed to seeing the project through.

Everyday is Management by crisis. Projects are completed with the following priorities:

-who is screaming the loudest
-hover the resources or lose them
-what I like to do best
-what is the quickest

How to run a status meeting:
+ Shouldn't be longer than 10 minutes.
+ Only report if the project will deliver on-time
+ Report how many hours spent and how many are left

-Do not use % complete, when providing project status, it is subjective. How long will it take for people to realize that the last 10% takes 50% of the time!
-Quantity and quality reporting cannot be done in the same meeting, because one will overshadow the other. Discuss risks and blockers in a risk management meeting.
-Asking quality questions one-on-one provides two benefits:

1. more honest respones
2. everyone else keeps working

In summary:
1. Know your organization's strategy
2. Know your organization's priorities (Sr. mgmt must decide, but doesn't like conflict)


Martin VanDerSchouw is the founder of Looking Glass Development LLC and provides project management tools, training, and consulting for organizations. Martin is an authority on program and project management, leadership and IT Governance. With nearly 20 years of experience as an executive and information technology professional Mr. VanDerSchouw, recently served as a member of the International Board of Directors for the PMI, as a member of the prestigious U.S. President's Business Advisory Council, and as a governor's appointee of Colorado's Commission on Information Management. Mr. VanDerSchouw was recently named one of the top business executives in Colorado under the age of 40 by the Denver Business Journal.

Martin's new book, Flavor of the Month, Responding to the revolving door of management systems.