EVM – Not the Dinosaur You Thought It Was

jurassic worldI came across a great article in PM Network this month that you should check out: EVM – Still Proving Its Value. As always, there are relevant tips and tricks that will help you in your career. First, EVM translates well across industries. Everyone speaks the language of money. When schedule and progress are expressed in monetary terms, everyone can understand that. I will add that this takes some education on the part of the Project Manager. It really is your job to promote and sell the concept to your business leadership.

Fortunately, there are two excellent vignettes on how to achieve buy in from the team and the executive suite for implementing EVM.

How is that applied in small IT environments? Well, it’s tricky, especially if you are working on contract for the company. Take just a portion of the project and apply EVM to it. Perhaps you can use EVM for just one feature or phase of the project. This is a scalable tool.

One more great tip from the article about integrating with Agile: Don’t be afraid of the multiple baselines and changes. Roll with those changes and show how EVM helps keep things on track.

Friga Recommends the Scientific Method

Minions use the Scientific Method

Kevin & Dave use the Scientific Method!

The title is meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek. We all know that this model has been around a few centuries now. What Friga proposes isn’t necessarily new, but he advocates for a return to the basics as it were. A friend of mine said a long time ago, “If you never leave the basics, you don’t have to worry about going back to them.”

Apparently, many top-level business executives have left the basics of this model due to 3 factors that Friga describes in his introduction:

  1. Information overload
  2. Shareholder pressure
  3. Shortened business cycles

Those factors can be debated, but for anyone used to dealing with strategic business decisions, you quickly realize that you simply don’t have the time to do deep research on every decision. Many decisions are made using your gut. Friga proposes framing those decisions using the Scientific Method instead of just your gut.

So what does it look like? It’s just like you remember from your junior high science class:

  1. Define the problem
  2. Develop a hypothesis
  3. Gather data
  4. Interpret data
  5. Make Decsion

The article is a fairly quick read so I’ll leave it to you to explore the article. The purpose of my review is to tell you if it is worth your time or not. It is definitely worth your time. There are some nuances that Friga highlights that will add to your decision toolbox.

The biggest improvement that stood out to me was in step 4. Many times, we interpret the data to fit our own biases. We see this in the business world due to politics, budget constraints, and market forces. Instead of giving in, Friga recommends you examine data fairly – for and against – your hypothesis. If you can do that; if your team can do that, you have a much better chance to make a good, data-supported decision.

Check out the article, you won’t be disappointed.

Myth Busters – Debunking 5 Misconceptions

busted-4e06601e43bb3The following is a quick reader’s digest review of an important article in this month’s issue of PM Network.*

Myth – Process Trumps People
Key Takeaway – The right people need to be empowered to break away from established standards. “Apply as much of the process as is necessary.”

Myth – Execution is Everything
Key Takeaway – A shift from proactive planning immediately to execution leads to reactive firefighting.

Myth – Risk Registers are Only for Planning
Key Takeaway – Convene separate risk review meetings regularly throughout Execution to ensure the mitigation plans are ready in case a risk is triggered.

Myth – You Should Never Kill a Project
Key Takeaway – “To have the business sense and strength to terminate a project that no longer fits the environment is to be praised, not punished.”  My own take is this:  It only takes one failing project to doom a company.

Myth – After Budgets are Set, New Project Ideas Must Wait
Key Takeaway – Accept new ideas and prioritize them throughout the year in order to maximize the best use of resources.  This may mean bumping an existing project, but if the goal is to innovate and improve, you don’t want to wait until budget season to do it.

A lot more could be said on each of these topics.  Please review the article beginning on page 43!

*PM Network, February 2014