Saturday, September 15, 2007, 11:57 AM
After you have developed your project requirements, determined and received approval for your project budget, developed your project plan or timeline, developed an issues or status log, as well as a risk document and contingency plan, executing the project is gravy and pretty uneventful until launch. However, before you kick your feet up, you should hold a “Go / No Go” meeting. This is a meeting where you sit down with your team and get a vote from each team member on whether to move forward with project implementation or delay launch.
You should hold your Go / No Go meeting at least 2 weeks prior to the launch date of your project. You should document the time and date of when this meeting was held, the name of the persons who attended, each person’s Go / No Go vote, and each person’s role or the group they are representing. On the meeting invitation for your Go / No Go meeting, you should request that those who cannot attend reply to your e-mail with their vote. Then keep the response provided or follow up with that group if no response is given.
You can use the Go / No Go Register example, accessible via the "related link" below, as a tool to help you record the votes from team members on whether you should move forward with the launch of the project.
Remember to document the votes of the project team members, and their role during the project. The last you want is for a team to get upset with you about something you implemented and not be able to show them that their team's representative was fully aware and agreed to move forward with the project.
Talibah Adenouga, PMP
Founder of JANOP
tadenouga@janop.com
www.janop.com
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Thursday, August 23, 2007, 11:27 AM
Once everything is said and done, the project has been launched and all post implementation issues have been resolved, it is important to formally close out the project by creating a close out binder. If you create a close out binder, you can refer anyone to that binder when a question arises about the project. This will allow you to separate yourself from the project after you’ve implemented it.
At a minimum, the project binder should include the following:
- Project team roster or a list of individuals on your core team, including their role during the project
- A copy of all the detailed meeting minutes you created
- Requirements Document
- Issues or Status Log
- Project Timeline
- Risk Document
- Project Budget
- Lessons learned
- Go / No Go Document
- Outcome of the project
- Post implementation issues and resolution steps taken
- Any additional documents or information you feel necessary, such as exceptional activities taken that were "outside of procedure/process" but necessary for implementation of the project and clear executive/leadership approval of such activities.
Formally closing out your project with a close out binder is very important if you want to seperate yourself from the project after it's been implemented. It is also important for those times when you have to quickly explain why you did certain things that may seem questionable at first glance.
The last thing you want is for someone to ask you a question about the project three years down the line, and you either cannot remember or have to spend hours, even days, trying to find supporting documentation for what you did and why...especially if there is a potential legal issue.
So, be sure to take a little time to create your close out binder. You'll be glad you did.
Talibah Adenouga, PMP
Founder of JANOP
tadenouga@janop.com
www.janop.com
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 06:22 AM
Conflict arises when two groups or individuals have strong views that are in opposition, and neither wants to abandon their position. When it does arise, managing conflict is not always easy, but definitely achievable.
Healthy conflict, such as disagreements, can be beneficial to your project, because it can bring to the surface new and innovative ideas that may not have been identified otherwise.
Conflict becomes a problem the moment it stops being a discussion where two parties are sharing differing opinions based on fact, to two parties having a heated argument based on emotion.
Conflict should not be suppressed. However, both healthy and negative conflict should be addressed immediately.
Whether you encourage those involved to share their conflicting views in a respectful manner or you have to step in and resolve the conflict before it becomes counterproductive, make sure you acknowledge and address the conflict in some way.
The first step to resolving any issue is a proactive one. So, you should strive to reduce the risk of unhealthy conflict arising by maintaining an environment of respect, trust, and open communication.
Since conflict may still arise, even in an extremely positive environment, here's how to handle it.
You should intervene to resolve conflict:
- before the persons involved begin to personally attack each other
- when the disagreement begins to turn into an emotional debate
- when it starts affecting the project and the other team members in a negative way
When you intervene to resolve a conflict, you must:
- listen carefully to both sides
- remain neutral
- ask open-ended questions to encourage dialogue
- observe the emotions of the persons involved
- help the persons involved see things from each other’s perspective
- help the persons come to a compromise that suits both parties
Although you may have to address conflict during your meeting, to prevent it from escalating, make sure you follow-up with the persons “offline” by speaking with them when there is no audience. Remember, your objective is to encourage an environment of team work, not to embarrass the team members.
Consider speaking with each person individually, and then talk through the conflict with them collectively. This will make your efforts to resolve the conflict much more effective.
Remember to maintain an environment of respect, trust, and open communication, in an effort to reduce conflict. When conflict does arise, be sure to intervene quickly and respectively.
Talibah Adenouga, PMP
Founder of JANOP
tadenouga@janop.com
www.janop.com
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Saturday, June 30, 2007, 08:50 PM
The next time you find yourself dosing off while attending one of those unbelievably long and boring meetings, find creative ways to engage yourself and relate more to what is being presented.
Pretend that you are a reporter, and the meeting you are attending is your ground breaking story. Take lots of notes and ask the right questions at appropriate times. Afterward, write or record a “news release” on what was discussed or presented.
Then, when you’re done, present the finished product to your leadership. Be warned … you will definitely want to think hard before presenting your "report" to leadership. If it’s good, doing this kind of report on a regular basis could end up being one of your assumed responsibilities … or you might get your feelings hurt if your finished product is lacking (nice way of saying bad).
If you don’t have the time or drive to do something like this ongoing, nor the patience to deal with people bothering you about when the next report is going to be released, keep it to yourself.
This little trick will not only give the appearance that you are engaged and have initiative, but it is also a great way to improve your written communication skills; which is a key skill for all Project Managers to have.
Hate the idea of writing or recording a report or “news release”? Then try to do something else creative.
The objective is to get engaged so that you are perceived as someone who is always attentive during meetings, rather than the one who is always falling asleep.
NOTE: If you sit in close proximity to others during the meeting, doodling or drawing pictures unrelated to the subject of the meeting (ie: a sketch of your boss with horns on his/her head) may not be the most effective way to express your creativity.
Boundaries are limitless, so get creative, get engaged, get recognized, and get paid.
Talibah Adenouga, PMP
Founder of JANOP
tadenouga@janop.com
www.janop.com
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 01:03 PM
Whether the members of your team report to you or are borrowed resources there are some important steps you need to follow to ensure that you build and maintain a quality and effective team.
Some key steps for building an effective team are:
Understand the objective of your project
Identify potential stakeholders
Create your potential core team
Hold a kick-off meeting
Encourage an environment of respect, trust, and open communication
Learn how to manage conflict
Remain organized
Build up your team
Now that you have the steps, let's take a closer look at each of them.
- Understand your project’s objective. Before you ever attempt to formulate a team, you have to know why you need the team. If you aren’t clear about the objective, you’ll waste time that your team members probably don’t have. This will soon cause you to lose participation from the resources you need most.
- Identify potential stakeholders. Once you understand the objective of the project, you can begin identifying some of the groups or people that would be affected by the project. It is vital that you clearly identify impacts, formulize quality requirements, and ensure the right tools are developed with your stakeholders in mind.
NOTE: Be careful not to get stakeholders and team members confused. They are not always the same.
Stakeholders are those individuals and groups that are directly impacted by the execution of the project. Many times, stakeholders can affect the outcome of the project.
Team members are those individuals who participate in the execution of the project. Some of your team members may be stakeholders, but you can also have team members that have no direct impact on the project. Such as a notes taker, or conference organizer.
- Create your potential core team. Even if you don’t know all of the key people you should have on your core team, you can take your list of potential stakeholders and begin asking subject matter experts (SMEs) who they feel would be crucial to implementing your project successfully.
NOTE: Many project managers struggle with not knowing who the right people to talk to are, or the appropriate people to include on a core team, especially when the project manager is new to the group. Don’t be deceived, not knowing who the key people are is no excuse for poor project management.
- Hold a kick-off meeting with potential core team members. When the resources do not belong to you, it is essential that you speak to the immediate supervisors of those people, prior to inviting them to your meeting. This will ensure that you have the appropriate person on your core team to represent that group, and the support of that person’s supervisor.
NOTE: During your kick-off meeting clearly communicate the objective of the project, identify and document the roles and responsibilities of those in attendance, and ask for any additional persons that may need to be involved.
- Encourage an environment of respect, trust, and open communication.When your team members trust you and feel comfortable with voicing their ideas and opinions, without facing judgment or being ridiculed, they are more willing to let their guard down and share information and thoughts openly and often.
NOTE: Trust and open communication abound in an environment where there is respect. Don’t allow anyone to talk down to, talk over, interrupt, nor perform any other form of disrespect toward others during your meetings.
- Learn how to manage conflict. Conflict arises when two groups or individuals have strong views that are in opposition, and neither wants to abandon their position. When it does arise, managing conflict is not easy.
Healthy conflict, such as disagreements, can be beneficial to your project because it can bring to the surface new and innovative ideas that may not have been identified otherwise.
Conflict becomes a problem the moment it stops being a discussion where two parties are sharing differing opinions based on fact, to two parties having a heated argument based on emotion.
Conflict should not be suppressed. However, both healthy and negative conflict should be addressed immediately.
NOTE: Whether you encourage those involved to share their conflicting views in a respectful manner or you have to step in and resolve the conflict before it becomes counterproductive, make sure you acknowledge and address the conflict in some way.
- Remain organized. If you, as the facilitator and manager of the project, aren’t committed enough to arrive to meetings on time, stay engaged, and follow-up on any of the action items you may take, how can you expect your team to do any different?
- Focus on building up your team. For any project to be successful, your team needs to know how to work together.
Some great ways to build your team are:
Show and voice your appreciation.
Put together a team building event.
Use G-rated humor at appropriate times.
Reward and recognize team members when benchmarks are reached.
Keep the following in mind and you will be far on your way to building and maintaining your effective team.
Talibah Adenouga, PMP
Founder of JANOP
tadenouga@janop.com
www.janop.com
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