I come from a newspaper background, cutting my teeth in the seat of the Cherokee Nation – Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Fascinating place, fascinating industry, prepares you well for other walks of life. To this day, if a blog post is submitted to me (your editor, in case you didn’t know already) after deadline, it remains akin to a troll’s fingernails on a chalkboard. Deadlines were a way of life, the rule without exceptions: there was absolutely no room, as legendary comic George Carlin once put it, to test the elasticity of them.
Naturally as the career expanded, I ended up with responsibilities that used the writing & editing capacities, but left me to rethink the loose ends that often need to be secured first. You know, the ones that don’t actually extend the deadline, but merely strain the elasticity of the Time, Cost and Scope of the project triangle we all are so familiar with now (and brings the troll out from under the bridge and into my proverbial classroom). So suffice it to say, it’s nice to bring a bit of normality and familiarity to the job.
The P3M Globe, a daily online newspaper from paper.li, is as close as I’ll get to the old days, and it’s good enough for me. Evolved from our old PM-Partners Weekly, p3m global are breaking away from the old format and into an evening daily (or an afternoon/late morning edition for those in the Western Hemisphere, especially Tahlequah!). Coverage collates the best of the #PMOT and #PM hash tags, with familiar voices like the PMI blog team, Voices in Project Management; Bernardo Tirado, Susanne Madsen, ProjectManagers.NET, APM and many more. Whilst not all of them write their own stuff, The P3M Globe exemplifies why sharing the strongest pieces and thought leadership (or retweeting, to use common parlance) on Twitter is to the benefit of the consumer and a great way to think not only about your job, but about how to your job well.
But more importantly, it forces the narrative and those in the know on the #P3M, #PMOT and other leading project management hash tags to bring their A-game continuously. Good content rolls and gets pushed. Whenever people thank me for promoting their writings via the latest edition of The P3M Globe, I make it a point to let them know that what they’re putting out into the Twitter ether earned the push. Ergo: for the best words on Twitter about our practice, a subscription to P3M Globe from p3m global and paper.li is the way for the “on the go, no time to check Twitter”, user to get it.
Dan Strayer is the Marketing Coordinator for p3m global. A native of Manchester (by way of the US), Dan currently edits all forms of p3m global Media, including this blog, the monthly newsletter (subscribe here), and all forms of social media output by p3m global that you can see in the icons below. Other recent ventures from p3m global Media include Slideshare and Prezi. Get in touch with Dan on Twitter via @p3mglobal or @danlstrayer.
This week, we thought it would be useful to spread some of the joy regarding the development of the new PMI Portfolio Management Professional certification (PfMP), which will add a portfolio level to the PMI’s suite of qualifications.
“What is portfolio management?” I hear you say. Well, the official definition from the PMI is “a component collection of programs, projects or operations managed as a group to achieve strategic objectives.” The APMG define it as “the totality of an organisation’s investments (or segment thereof) in the changes required to achieve its strategic objectives.” Basically, making sure you are doing as much of the right stuff as you can – and demonstrating that you are doing it.
To put it in simpler terms, consider a car. You have a nice bright shiny new car. It is of no use to you unless you have the skills to drive it…that is your project management layer – or the ability to maintain it or have it maintained…the operations layer. That enables you to get from A to B.
But what is B? Where are you going? If you are taking three kids to school, it is no good having a sports car. If you are moving furniture around, it’s no good having a little four seat saloon car. So the vehicle is programme management layer – it’s no good being a really good driver (the project management layer) with really good skills as a car mechanic (the operations layer) if you don’t know where you’re going.
The final part of the picture is how you are going to get there – if you like, the SatNav bit. How can you most efficiently get to where you are going without sitting in traffic for hours on end, or running out of petrol. Conceptually – the world of portfolio management! It’s all about saving money, getting more value out of what you are doing – more bang for your buck. If you consider programme management as “doing the thing right”… portfolio management is doing the right thing.
So the PMI is in the final stages of producing a certification to demonstrate someone’s ability and experience at the portfolio layer. What’s the point? Well, portfolio management is being adopted more and more – across industries and across the globe. So, there is a corresponding demand for more knowledge, resources and professional recognition. The PfMP credential is intended to validate and demonstrate a practitioner’s knowledge and experience. It will also differentiate practitioners from their non-credentialed peers, and, because it is transferable among methodologies and industries, it helps make them more marketable. It will complement existing qualifications such as the MoP and provide the first globally-accepted credential for the role of a portfolio manager.
We’ve written before about PfMP, including a useful set of FAQs about how to attain the certification.
Thursday 15th May, PM-Partners officially announced the relaunch of what was PM-Partners EMEA to p3m global. An evening of celebrations with music, refreshments and an introduction to the new brand was enjoyed at the IceTank in Covent Garden, London.
Everyone at p3m global would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who joined us. We received some great feedback from the night.
For those of you who could not make it, we encourage you to visit the p3m Facebook page, where more photos and information can be found.
Over the next few months you may notice that we will be gradually phasing out the PM-Partners brand and as of September 2014 we will officially be running solely as p3m global. We are very excited about what the future will bring and to continue working with you moving forward.Best wishes from the p3m global team!
Let me start by asking you a few questions about your attitude towards administration. We all know that some of us are better organised than others.
Even so, take a moment and answer the following questions;
Are you one of those PMs that is excellent at planning and managing what others do, but not so good at managing your own tasks and time?
Do you feel as though everything is under control, as you know all that is going on and therefore, there is no need to review or update the risk register, etc.?
Have you learned something useful and incorporated the lesson into the project, and so there is no need to document?
Are you lazy?
Buried in Paperwork? Let Derek Bland and PM-Partners help you sort out your priorities.
None of the advice below excuses the lazy – sorry, guys.
There will be some of you that need to adhere to a PM method that is document heavy, and the application is not proportionate to the size and complexity of the project. It may be that there is no company-wide method or project, programme or portfolio management (P3M, for short) standards being applied. The advice below will not get rid of this problem, but may help you to organise your time. p3m global is a Portfolio, Programme and Project Management consultancy and training company that is involved with the design and implementation of project management methods; therefore, we can help define and/or streamline your processes.
The advice below should be adjusted to your own needs and those for the project.
1. KNOW WHERE IT IS – BE ORGANISED: It is essential to be organised form the start. Ensure you have a good folder structure that helps you to find documents easily as this will save you time. An example would be to have a folder for; strategies, registers, schedules and work packages and a folder for products to be produced. Let’s be honest, communication is driven by email and so it is as important to have a similar folder structure for your emails.
2. KNOW WHAT IT IS AND WHAT THE CURRENT VERSION IS: It is imperative that you version (yes, it’s a verb in this case!) your documents. A good practice for documents that are being worked on (WIP) are to use a decimal place and once approved/signed off, the version is rounded up to a whole number. This process is then repeated for all subsequent versions. Example of WIP versions, v0.1, v0.2 etc. Once signed off it becomes v1.0, followed by the next version earning a label v2.0, and so on. Another option for documents or registers is to use a date format. I like to use YYMMDD. Therefore, my Risk Register will be Risk Register, PMP Project 140131. This ensures that it will always be the latest version. Make sure you have a good naming convention for all project documents and ensure that all of those producing product documentation follow these protocols.
3. KNOW WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO DO TASKS – BE DISCIPLINED: We all know that projects in a fast-paced and or complex state can throw up urgent issues. However, it is important to schedule set times so that you can review documents – even if only a quick check – to verify that they do not need updating. Make a recurring schedule item in your calendar and add a checklist of activities to the calendar appointment. Break-up mundane activities into small manageable tasks. A simple example* might be;
4. BEWARE THE MEETING, ESPECIALLY THE IMPROMTU ONES: Meetings are necessary and can aid greatly in communication and assist in team building. However, avoid agreeing to a meeting if you feel it is for said meeting’s sake. I once worked on an extremely large Government Project. The main project team took up one floor, with additional staff distributed thorough the building. The floor was open plan and so it was easy to see what was going on around you; ergo, it became easier to be distracted. I estimated that around 35% of my day could be taken up with impromptu meetings or chats at the water cooler. Do not be afraid to say that you have something urgent that you are working on and arrange a time to meet to discuss. However, consider if the meeting is really necessary or whether the person just wants a chat or the person may simply want to get something off of their chest. Although this may not be a priority for you, you should try and find some time to listen to concerns, because you never know: something productive may come out of it.
5. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED: I am not just referring to lessons to be logged in the Lesson Log; rather the way that you work. Ensure that you actively audit yourself by taking time to reflect and think about;
How have you been perceived in a particular instance; did you try something new which worked, could you have communicated better? Did you provide information to the correct level of detail and in the correct format?
How well have you managed your time? Could you have performed some tasks more quickly without compromising quality? Were some of the meeting necessary or did they drag on too long and how could you improve this the meeting next time? Remember you are the Project Manager, many of the team will want to learn from you. Anything that you can learn for yourself needs to be acted upon and so log it – learn it – embed it.
* – Please note that the above list is a very simple example and does not negate the need to update or review project documentation as required. The very act of recording a risk or issue often promotes ideas on how best to deal with it.
Derek Bland is Project Management Consultant & Trainer at p3m global. His experience includes consultancy on design and delivery of bespoke Project Management methods, conducting Project Audits and advising PMs on best practice improvements. As a trainer, Derek delivers on a variety of Project Management Courses, including PRINCE2 and MSP.
We’re heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrre! Project people, get ready – it’s time to empower your business change potential and optimise your delivery capabilities. We are p3m global – project, programme and portfolio management for empowering change & optimising delivery.
