What does volunteering mean to you? Planting trees? Teaching English in an underdeveloped country? Serving tea at a retirement home? I recently heard about friend’s grandmother, a spry 92-year-old, who still climbs flights and flights of stairs to deliver Meals on Wheels to recipients two decades her junior. I like this story so much that I often employ it when trying to persuade people to volunteer.

It’s National Volunteer Week this week and I’m in a confessional mood: I’m a serial volunteer. Over the next few days I’ll be supervising dozens of volunteers at the annual Sydney Writers’ Festival, the biggest literary festival in Australia. This is my eighth year as a volunteer and, having caught the pro bono bug early, I’ve added other festivals, conservation efforts, youth group leadership and, yes, working at a charity shop to my volunteer experience since that first foray.

However, while I love getting stuck into all those small but important tasks that make up any volunteer role, it dawned on me recently that I’m yet to find pro bono work that uses my skills in written communication. Whether this is an oversight or my subconscious telling me to do something different with my spare time I’m yet to discern, but this observation led me to realise what a valuable and diverse skill set project managers have to offer.

Volunteer programs, such as building a school in Bangladesh or helping a charity run a fundraising event, could do with someone skilled in project management, leading to the satisfying feeling of a job well done for a deserving organisation. Your contribution doesn’t have to be restricted to this type of community service, however. Project management associations are largely run by members who volunteer their time to take part in committees, organise events and help the organisation run smoothly. The result? Good for networking, great for your career and so valuable for project management.

So how about it? I know you’re busy, but the proverbial is true: if you want something done, give it to a busy person and I’d like to give the idea that you can make a difference to you. And you’re a project manager! If you can project manage your house renovations and make arrangements for your next holiday outside of your day job, surely you can spend a few hours a month giving back? As Volunteering Australia proclaims in this year’s theme, ‘Every One Counts’ and I know project managers can be counted on to deliver.

Tasks in projects

It goes without saying that tasks are the building blocks of projects. Projects are always made up of tasks, but tasks are not necessarily always part of projects. When we start to tackle a project, one of the first things we do is to break it down into discreet tasks. Those tasks are typically short in duration and assigned to one person. The focused team or team member will do a great job of knocking off tasks from their list, and in doing so they may collectively get entire projects done, too.

But every task on our to-do list is not necessarily part of a project. Most of us who work on projects also have some collection of additional tasks listed on Post-It notes, online trackers, and whiteboards. We’re scrambling to manage and prioritise both project tasks and non-project tasks (not to mention collaborate on them!), which begs for an online tracking solution.

But how is managing projects online different than managing tasks online? To answer that question, let’s look at the different choices available to us.

Online task management

Do a search for ‘online project management’, and you’ll see hundreds of products that label themselves as project management tools. But beware: if you try to find anything more sophisticated than task due dates or a list of milestones, you’ll often be disappointed.

Led by Basecamp, these task management tools have been extremely effective in two key ways: they’ve provided a common web-based interface in which teams can work together and collaborate. And they’ve given those teams a way to list tasks and due dates that is sufficient for front-line workers who are primarily concerned with their own productivity.

Simple? Yes. Powerful? Debatable. They beat the heck out of Post-It notes, but if you only go so far as managing lists of tasks, you may expose your project team to some unintended risks.

Online project management

For teams trying to get major initiatives accomplished, or even many smaller concurrent projects, simple task lists with due dates won’t quite cut it. Task management applications don’t give the project manager who is tasked with overseeing the project (or portfolio of projects) any insight into these key areas:

• Task estimation: How long will each task take? How long will the project as a whole take?
• Project scheduling: Will the person assigned to the work actually be able to complete it by the due date? Will the project as a whole be done on time?
• Resource and capacity planning: Does the team have enough resources to complete the project to spec, or do scope-cutting or resource balancing steps need to be taken?
• Portfolio-wide management: What projects are priorities for the organisation? Are they adequately resourced?
• Risk management: Is the right amount of progress being made? Are there areas of risk in the plan that need attention?

Understanding these aspects of your project doesn’t require an advanced degree or formal certification. But it does require a bit more information than you can put into your task management tool. Things like availability and work estimates create another axis of information that informs critical business decisions, which directly impact the bottom line.

Project management software packages have their differences, too. Some, like Clarizen or AtTask, mimic the traditional Microsoft Project way of scheduling and ask you to define start and end dates for each tasks or set up a series of predecessors or dependencies in order to ‘build’ your schedules. An alternative to these tools is LiquidPlanner, which automatically generates schedules based off of the priority order of your tasks and who they are assigned to.

Tools like Wrike focus on collaboration features like email integration. One size doesn’t fit all here; you’ll need to watch a demo, use free trial versions, and consider which mix of features fits your team best.

Online task management is a great way to get teams accustomed to the basic principles of online project management. It helps keep team members focused on what they need to get done every day, and it provides an easy way for collaborating online.

But while task management applications serve the front line workers well, project managers require a more sophisticated set of controls on the back end. If you seek the best of both worlds, look into programs that give individual contributors a ‘task list’ type view into their project work and a way to track non-project tasks, and at the same time give project managers the tools they need to see and manage the big picture.

There is no universal answer to the question of what is the ‘correct’ way to assess durations but here is an overview of the multiple factors that should be considered by competent planners and managers.

The initial planning decisions concern the project framework used to define the task:

• Sizing the time units: Just because your software can calculate in minutes this is not always appropriate: time units of days, weeks and in some cases even months may provide a clearer picture of the overall flow of work in a project.
• Setting appropriate work periods: 24 x 7, 5 x 8, etc.
• Determining the task: Choosing an appropriate task is critical; key factors include being the responsibility of a single management entity, capable of being worked on continuously and unambiguous in its scope.

Once the task is determined, and the overall project framework set; the issues concerning the estimation of the optimum task duration come into play.

Some of the factors that may influence the final answer include:

• The expectations of the person doing the work.
• Prior expectations: previous experience sets management’s expectations.
• Volume of work and production rates (but these are highly variable).
• Optimum crew sizes and the production ‘J’ curve.
• Capacity and capability of resources.
• Work methods and physical constraints—efficiency of working.
• Understanding variability (PERT, Monte Carlo).
• Setting new expectations: the ‘Critical Chain’ effect of using stretch targets as motivators.
• Achieving quality (adequate time for testing, etc).

Once the optimum duration of each task has been determined, the next factor to consider is the overall scheduling process, balancing schedule logic, working times, task durations and resources to achieve the overall project objectives, while allowing appropriate contingency times for risks.

This process frequently requires adjustments to the pre-determined optimum duration for a task to achieve contractual objectives, balance resources and/or meet imposed constraints. But this is only the beginning…

As the project progresses, the need to accelerate frequently arises, generally caused by a delaying factor earlier in the project. Reducing the overall duration of the remaining part of the schedule is relatively simple on paper, however achieving acceleration in the workplace is altogether more difficult.

Some of the factors to be considered are:

• The degree of change required to production levels.
• The increased risks, resource and management issues associated with fast tracking.
• The inefficiencies, increased resource and management issues associated with ‘crashing’ durations.

When confronted with the need to accelerate, it is probably wise to think vary carefully about what fundamental changes will be made before simply cutting a few durations. And the critical thing about fundamental change is that it is usually expensive! The best way to avoid problems seems to be starting a project ‘right’.

This focus of this post has been a brief overview of the complexity that lies behind every decision to allocate or change a task’s duration. The process is nowhere near as simple as just picking a number that looks right!

Located between Queen and Elizabeth Streets, Wintergarden consists of two parallel malls designed to draw in pedestrians from the main retail avenues. The innovative project took four years to redesign and redevelop.

Project director Gerry Holmes said the biggest challenge was the centre’s layers of existing structure, which also represented a key motivation for the final design.

“The original structure was difficult to change, so we needed to come up with innovative ways to open up the space so that shoppers could enjoy exploring the centre,” he said.

To bring shoppers through the mall area, the design carefully allows pedestrians clear sightlines between Queen and Elizabeth Streets, “creating a space where shoppers feel encouraged to enter and explore,” Holmes explained.

“The Buchan Group’s interior design team employed natural light, the highest-quality materials and striking dashes of colour to imbue the centre with a playful sense of design, complementing the iconic fashion retailers and brands that that now fill the centre.”

The $100 million project now “effortlessly” draws crowds through the centre, said Chris McCluskey, development director at ISPT, owner of Wintergarden.

“The people of Brisbane have certainly responded well to the design and creativity that Wintergarden brings to the heart of the CBD,” he noted.

From 17-19 May, more than 70 industry professionals and tradespeople will volunteer their time to deliver the project, a makeover of a house that provides long-term accommodation for homeless youth.

The Property Industry Foundation already funds a full-time carer to provide therapeutic care for up to four homeless young people at the residence.

The volunteers will assist with general maintenance, including painting and landscaping, as well as create an additional bedroom to help more young people. Foundation corporate donor Watpac will provide project management services and a number of tradespeople for the working bee.

“We are delighted to be involved with such a worthwhile project,” said Nick Pavlovic, Watpac’s Victoria state manager. “Our staff, subcontractors and suppliers have all been very keen to help too. They can see there is a real need out there and want to make a difference.”

Other donors include Mr Carpets, DEC Group Painting, Dulux Paints, Coates Hire and Kennards Hire.

The foundation has to date raised more than $12 million for homeless and troubled youth around Australia through events and initiatives such as the Charity Sailing Challenge and National Hard Hat Day.

The gist of lean management is well been elaborated in Gene Fliedner’s book Leading and Managing the Lean Management Process. Many of us know that the lean methods were designed to minimise waste, maximise value, and reduce complexity and variation throughout an organisation and its supply chain. However, how it should be implemented in real life situations is an ongoing challenge to the organisation and its management.

Using his more than 30 years’ experience, Fliedner has written on the organised approach in this book, expounding lean management from the theoretical to experiences of practical and proven methods of doing and managing work.

The book elaborates on lean management phases, its components and development, and its body of knowledge in its introduction chapter, well beyond the contribution by father of the lean concepts Henry Ford Senior and others at Toyota.

The next four chapters talk about lean management components including identifying improvement opportunities and eliminating waste. The author then explains the differences between manufacturing and service environments and how this limits the applicability of lean practices and tools.

Further into the book, Fliedner examines the customer-driven philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM) and explains the current and future frontiers of lean, sustainability and knowledge disconnection. While sustainability is a long-term objective and goes beyond internal improvements and waste reduction, his discussion on the future of lean covers how the exchange of accurate and timely information between supply chain trading partners can lead to economic, social and environmental benefits. From the viewpoint of lean management, the author put his thoughts on how the future of knowledge and information can be shared.

From a project management perspective, the book is the combination of theoretical perspectives and practical situations. In addition, with the framework of four interdependent lean management elements and the historical timeline of lean contributions, the author has gone further beyond and highlighted sustainability and importance of knowledge and information.

This will be a good reference book for this area and it is valuable for project managers, academia and others as they will understand how to do things better through the mitigation of the supply chain ‘bull whip’ effect.

Leading and Managing the Lean Management Process
By Gene Fliedner
RRP $36.95
Published by Business Expert Press (purchase online)

Armed with savvy change agents, smart organisations leverage their project managers’ skills to manage the inevitable shifts in the business landscape. IT change agents need to call on their other essential business skills: business savvy, communications, critical thinking, financial know-how and even coaching and mentoring.

As IT professionals begin to take on more business-oriented roles, their understanding of the risks, benefits and repercussions of change becomes essential. Positively managing and implementing change within the organisation is vital to success.

Change management itself involves a very general three-step process. First, IT managers need to define the current (‘as is’) state, identify the desired (‘to be’) state and evaluate the gap between. In this phase, critical thinking and problem solving are imperative. IT managers need a business mindset to view the big picture to determine where the organisation is versus where it needs to be and to identify the specific goals and objectives of the change initiative.

The next step involves engaging everyone from the executive suite to the ground-level to ensure everyone is on board. In this phase, high-impact communication melds with an IT professional’s leadership and change management skills. The IT managers’ coaching skills will be called in to play as people within an organisation must be allowed an opportunity to react to the desired change, and may need some one-on-one support.

Providing this opportunity enables people to become accustomed to the idea of change and to align their thinking in ways that will help both identify potential problem areas and contribute substantively to process improvement. And of course, leadership skills such as persuasion and influence are also required for a smooth change management process.

The third and final step involves implementation: agreement on and delivery of the processes and technology to realise the future state.

During implementation, employees throughout the organisation need to remember why they are working so hard on implementing a change. Therefore, change leaders should continually remind people, using multiple media (formal e-mails, milestone celebrations, informal conversations) what the change is and why it is so important.

As change agents, IT leaders should ask themselves the following questions to help both themselves and the organisation ensure successful implementation:

1. Can I clearly articulate the change and rationale of the change to each level?
2. Do the individuals in my team have the right ability and desire to work in the new environment?
3. Are additional skill sets needed to transition to the new job?
4. Do the people in my team have the right mentor?
5. Does the change impact short-term productivity? If so, will additional support be needed to ensure business success?
6. How do these new demands impact my department financially?

These business skills ensure long-term career success for IT managers today. With a proper business mindset, high-impact communication, critical thinking, financial literacy, coaching and mentoring and change management abilities, IT leaders, and the companies they work for, will enjoy long-lasting success!

The use of subject matter experts is commonplace throughout the lifecycle of a project. The experts, as we will generally refer to them, are typically functional experts in their respective roles that the project manager relies on to make delivery estimations and identify potential risks to a project.

Depending on the dynamics of your particular organisation, such experts may come from the same functional team that will be responsible for the execution of the tasks for which the experts are providing input, or they may be in a specialist division that deals with project set-up. In either case, there are a several risks which the project manager needs to look out for to avoid being given an impossible or very difficult delivery task.

Beware of expertise

In many business environments, the experts available for a project are often within the same functional group that will be responsible for the execution of tasks on a project. Let’s consider, for example, project Alpha’s objectives include designing a new car headlamp for Automotive Company XYZ. The experts used for this project are likely to include engineers, managers and/or senior personnel from various departments that will be responsible for the development of the product.

The potential pitfall in using experts from the same group that will implement it is that they accept the estimates without accounting for any bias that may be lurking in the estimates. This bias may be consciously or subconsciously included from the experts. Once the scope and requirements have been finalised for the project, the duration estimates are generally finalised with the input of the experts.

In order to meet or exceed the duration estimates provided, the expert’s estimates may actually be ‘worst case’ scenario unbeknown to the project manager, which has ensuing implications on project budget and schedule. The Peter Principle, by which the work expands to fill the time available, risks coming into play, so we do not get the optimum delivery result.

Conversely, estimates from experts that are overly optimistic risk putting the delivery team to the sword, and put the project budget at risk. The conclusion: project managers should make sure that expert guidance should be ‘peer reviewed’ by an external person to ensure it is reasonable.

Calculating risks

Bias is not isolated to the work estimates of a project. It is also connected to the level of risk involved whether for an estimate of work or generally assessing project risks. Risk, according to PMBOK, is calculated as Probability * Impact. Yet risk depends on the project team’s appetite for it, particularly the client: Are they risk averse or risk-seeking?

Depending on the environmental factors of your organisation, how you obtain the probability and impact may vary. However, most calculations of impact will be based on the subjectivity and experience of experts. Take the example below, where the project team has agreed that impacts should fall into one of five categories (see figure 1.1 below), and any risk rated over a 2.0 impact should require mitigation planning.

Program management has emerged as a distinct discipline in the late 20th century. It is now generally agreed that programs are a significant undertaking consisting of multiple actions spanning multiple business areas to produce strategic benefits. The Project Management Institute (PMI), the United Kingdom’s Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the Project Management Association of Japan (PMAJ) have all published standards or guides on program management in the last 10 years.

Program maturity

Traditionally, most organisations undertake projects as part of their work. Mostly these projects are treated as separate entities, independent from each other. They are often generated within a business unit and managed with that unit’s resources.

Larger projects undertaken either for external clients or for strategic purposes are usually managed on an ad hoc basis by a dedicated team. Programs can either be ‘vision-led’, driven by strategic objectives, or ‘emergent’, a convenient grouping of existing projects for tactical reasons.

Mature organisations will favour the more integrated vision-led approach that enables greater agility and responsiveness. Because of their overall strategic vision they are more likely to realise business benefits.

As program management is used more and more to manage organisational change, the program becomes a vehicle for interaction between business stakeholders to generate creative ideas and innovative products that increase the organisation’s competitiveness. In order to be competitive, a mature organisation will use programs to link a number of business processes and understand how to create synergy between its different components (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: The Mature Program Integration

Traditional organisational structures are well adapted to stable, well defined environments; they are typically hierarchical and based on strong organisational control. In these structures, the portfolio is typically divided into sub-portfolios, programs and projects.

Recently, new organisational models have been developed that are more adapted to today’s turbulent and fast-moving environment. These new organisational models are similar to a supply or value chain and the program methodology is at the centre of the strategic decision management process.

Clients want to know that their investment will improve their business, whether by lowering costs, enabling efficiencies or expansion into new markets. They also need assurance that a project will complete on time, on budget and within the agreed parameters. If a deliverable does look likely to slip, then they expect to be informed as early as possible.

As such, professional services firms need complete visibility across their business. Projects must be planned, resourced and executed in a way that allows a firm to find the right combination of team members and skill-sets to maximise billable hours at lowest cost and achieve the best possible margin.

They also need to be able to bid for contracts safe in the knowledge that they have the headroom to deliver on what they have set out within the tender. This is particularly challenging in the current economic climate, where headcounts have been reduced and recruitment programs frozen. The more prospective projects there are in the pipeline, the greater the risk that resources will be overstretched.

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