cover Project net new.fh9 29/7/04 2:06 PM Page 1
Composite
C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
web: www.pmisa.org.zaemail: [email protected]
Examining a PMI best practiceExamining a PMI best practice
FOR MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE PMSA
JULY / AUGUST 2004
Examining a PMI best practice
Why project close-outsare importantWhy project close-outsare important
Are you a Project Management Education/Training provider?
Due to the numerous enquiries received from Project ManagementEducation/Training Providers in the past, PMSA has launched, as an addedservice to our members, a Registered Education & Training ProviderProgramme (R.E.T.P.P.) and would like to invite those of you who are trainingproviders to list your services / organisation on the PMSA website.Listing on websites is an economical and effective way to promote yourservices in today's competitive marketplace. The new PMSA website is onlya few months old but is already accessed by more than 500 people per day.
The R.E.T.P.P. is designed to enhance the ongoing professional developmentof PMSA Members and other project management stakeholders throughparticipation in various learning experiences and activities related to thefield of project management.
The objectives of the PMSA Registered Education & Training ProviderProgramme may be summarized as:
Encourage the continuing professional development of Project Managers,PMSA members and all other stakeholders in the project managementcommunity by providing qual ity educational opportunit ies .• To establish appropriate criteria and policies permitting PMSA to provide
recognition to qualifying providers of education/training in the field ofproject management.
• To provide a foundation for a co-operative effort between PMSA andthe project management education & training community.
• To create a forum for the exchange of ideas and best practices, andfoster the growth of project management.
• To provide a searchable database, via the PMSA website, of RegisteredEducation & Training Providers to the project management community.
The responsibilities of a PMSA Registered Education & Training Provider wouldamongst others be to:• Adhere to the criteria, guidelines and code of ethics listed in the
registration Form• Inform PMSA, via the Programme Description Form, of each new or
modified programme being offered in the field of project management• Maintain attendance records for one year after the end date of the
individual educational programmes being offered• Agree that PMSA may randomly audit a selected number of Registered
Education & Training Providers for quality conformance on an annualbasis.
To find out more about fees and benefits, go to the PMAA website atwww.pmisa.org.za
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:11 PM Page 1
INSIDEPresident’s Pen A word from Les Labuschagne Pg 2
Global Network Balanced scorecards and project dashboards Pg 4
Focus on OPM3 Pg 8
Insight Examining a PMI best practice Pg 10
Outlook Why project close-outs are important Pg 12
PM Profile Getting to know Pieter du Plessis Pg 16
Our World News from the PM fraternity Pg 18
Reviews How good is this book? Pg 20
1
ProjectNet is an alternate monthly publication
produced by Cyan Sky Communication
Consultancy and distributed free of charge to the
members of PMSA, on behalf of PMSA.
Editorial Director:
Prof Les Labuschagne, PMSA President
Managing Editor:
Taryn van Olden
Design and Layout:
Paper Plane Communication Design
Reproduction and Printing:
Remata Inathi Communications and Printers
Please direct editorial submissions and enquiries,
plus requests for additional copies to:
The Editor, ProjectNet, [email protected] or
082 779-1314.
Advertising enquiries can be directed to
The Editor at the above email address.
Distribution, training and PMSA membership
enquiries should be directed to the PMSA:
General contact details related to this magazine:
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.projectnet.co.za
Address: PO Box 1072, Ferndale, 2160
Cover image:
Project Manager Pieter du Plessis featured in our
PM Profile section on page 16.
Copyright©
The copyright of all material in this magazine is
reserved by the proprietors, except where
expressly stated. The editors will, however,
consider reasonable requests for the use of
information provided the source and author are
clearly attributed.
Please note: Editorial submissions are welcomed but are subject to review by the PMSA Exco, ProjectNet’seditorial team and editor before a decision is made regarding inclusion. Product- or service-specificinformation submitted in the form of a news item may be considered for publication in the News and Viewssection, but may not be accepted in any other section. Please contact the Editor for content classificationsto guide your submissions. The editor reserves the right to shorten articles but will consult the author shouldany adjustments be deemed necessary.
this edition
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:11 PM Page 1
Standing at the start of a new presidential
term of two years, several challenges face me
and the PMSA. Filling this position is not going to
be an easy task. Looking back, all the past
presidents have made significant contributions
to building the PMSA into what it is today. All of
them have left deep footprints in the profession
and continue to do so.
Project management in South Africa has
made great strides in the last few years, yet
there is still a long and difficult road ahead to
get the profession to where it deserves to be. I
ask, therefore, for your support in our
endeavours. There are many volunteers that
sacrifice their valuable time to help build the
profession. I am referring in particular to the
National Executive Committee as well as all the
Branch Executive Committees and SIGs. A lot
of work is done by these people behind the
scenes that members are not always aware of.
This year we have seen a renewed interest
in the profession, which is reflected in the
positive growth in membership. I want to
encourage new and existing members to get
involved with their branches and SIGs and to
directly support their profession. The value of
your membership is determined by yourself.
The more you put it and take part in PMSA
activities, the more you will get out.
One of the biggest challenges facing us is
to educate the public about what project
management is all about. It would appear that
every second person that does not know what
they actually do for a living calls themselves a
project manager without having the necessary
knowledge or skill to lay claim to the title. The
term project manager is being abused by
these people and it is hurting the profession in
the same manner as those calling themselves
consultants did a few years ago. Soon the term
consultant developed a stigma – of being
under-informed yet overpriced “experts” - and
people began losing respect for anyone
calling themselves a consultant.We have to be
careful that the same does not happen to
project management. It is up to us to educate
those around us about what it means to be a
real project manager. A good place to start
would be the youth of today as they will
become the next generation of project
managers.
I would like to extend a personal invitation
to all members,and non-members, to email me
suggestions about how we can improve the
PMSA to better meet your needs. In the near
future we will send out a survey to determine
your needs. We ask of you to please complete
and return these surveys as it is in your own best
interest to do so.
I look forward to serving the project
management community and hope that I can
count on your support to develop it into what it
deserves to be.
Prof Les Labuschagne
2
Looking forward"All growth depends upon activity.
There is no development physically
or intellectually without effort, and
effort means work." - Calvin
Coolidge (1872 - 1933)
The President’s Pen
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:11 PM Page 2
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 3
Cindy Callow came to Concord Mass. USA-
based Eggrock Partners LLC on a mission. The
technology consulting firm’s 175 employees
were brilliant but delivered projects through
heroism, rather than consistent methodologies.
“They were unconsciously competent,” says
Kalow, who joined the company as chief
delivery officer in 1999.“They were smart so they
were successful. I was hired to bring some
consciousness to their competence and
enable the company to expand to other
geographies.” In a word, she needed to make
the project-oriented company’s successes
repeatable.
Kalow started by interviewing Eggrock’s
corporate executives and project managers.
An early conclusion: Delivery personnel must
be more involved in the sales cycle. Kalow
sketched the progress of opportunities through
the sales process and decided to bring
delivery people as soon as a customer solution
had been framed. She coordinated the new
arrangement with her counterpart in the sales
department via conference calls and
Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
To focus and communicate Eggrock’s
sales-delivery coordination effort for busy
administrators, project managers and the
sales force. Kalow employed a simple
software-based graphical Excel overlay,
commonly called a dashboard. Each
project’s on-time, on-budget status and other
key metrics of progress were represented by
coloured icons on a computer screen: Red
required senior management intervention,
yellow called upon a project’s manager
to make a course correction, and green
indicated smooth sailing.
After six months, Boston-based Breakaway
Solutions Inc. bought Eggrock Partners. Kalow
says Eggrock’s delivery prowess, of which the
dashboard was part, “was a key reason the
company wanted to acquire us.”
When Breakaway succumbed to the dot-
com bust, Kalow formed her own consulting
firm,Rhumbline Partners Inc.,Minneapolis,Minn.,
USA, but she says her experience with Eggrock
and similar companies taught her important
lessons about dashboard and balanced
scorecard project management tools.
“The success of a dashboard [depends on]
looking at the right things,” Kalow says.
“Managers tend to gravitate to sales and profit
measures, though these are superficial.”
Feeding back into the organization continuous
real-time data about the underlying factors
that influence those measures, such as
comparisons of estimated and optimal team
sizes, hours employed towards specific goals
and progress toward on-time, on-budget
delivery schedules, will establish and reinforce
the discipline necessary to meet core financial
goals, she says.
Organisations also tend to track too many
factors, Kalow says. Instead, managers must
determine both what the customer wants out
of the project and what metrics will materially
advance the project towards success.
At Eggrock, the need to link delivery to the
sales process led Kalow to measure on-time
delivery, staffing levels and periodic surveys of
customer expectations and satisfaction,
among other factors, which she fed back
to delivery and program managers and
executive administrators.
The senior executive team must reach
consensus and commitment about a project’s
goals and the overall strategy to reach them.
“Organisations that get the results they want
are ultimately clear on what their purpose is,
what their destination is, have developed
a strategy to get there and have a strategy
to get them executed,” Kalow says. “The
4
Global Network
The view from 50000 feet
By William Hoffman, (Project Management Institute, PM Network, ProjectManagement Institute, Inc. 2004. Copyright and all rights reserved. Materialfrom this publication has been reproduced with the permission of the PMI®.)
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 4
YOUR POCKETBOOK
Global Network
scorecards and the dashboard are not going
to be a success if we don’t have agreement
among the executives about what the project
or the business is supposes to accomplish.”
The Finish Line
The balanced scorecard was built around
the axiom, “What gets measured, gets done.”
The tool establishes a limited set of key
measures – typically fact-based, numerical,
financial, customer service and satisfaction,
internal process and employee learning and
growth metrics – channeled through a
continuous feedback process towards
strategic goals.
A business dashboard is an easy-to-read
user interface that organizes and presents
portfolio data in the same way that an
automobile’s dashboard displays performance
information.
Often designed to look like a simple Web
page, dashboards graphically represent
progress toward those balanced scorecard
goals. For a firsthand description, see The
Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into
Action [Harvard Business School Press, 1996] by
originators Robert S Kaplan, professor at
Harvard Business School, and David Norton of
the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative.
“One of the biggest misunderstandings
about [the balanced scorecard] is that it’s just
about having financial and non-financial
measurements,” says Bill Barberg, president and
founder of Insight Information Co.,
a Minneapolis, Minn., USA-based consulting
and software firm that developed Microsoft’s
Balanced Scorecard Framework for
its Office and SQL database
products. Corporations also must
formulate a strategy map for
transforming balanced
scorecard metrics into real
change with measurable
results, he says.
Setting up a balanced
scorecard usually is
a relatively quick process
(see sidebar, The 7-Step
Scorecard). Michael Carter,
co-founder and chief
5
marketing officer at CXO Systems Inc.,
Waltham, Mass., USA, says it took his company
seven weeks to fashion a scorecard and
dashboard for British American Tobacco (BAT)
PLC’s operations, which stretch from London to
Malaysia.
“We worked with CXO to implement a
dashboard application that shows metrics
such as average lead time on orders, forecast
accuracy and a collection of other metrics
that show how manufacturing capability is
meeting the demands of different sales
operations around the globe,” Kevin Poulter, a
BAT application technology manager in
London, told eWeek magazine in 2003.A rolled-
up view of all BAT operations available to
central management reduced the
organisation’s considerable exposure to
fluctuations of supply and demand, Carter
says. “One wrong projection and it’s an extra
trip, and extra trips are millions of dollars.”
Your Pocketbook
Expensive custom tools are not necessary to
implement a balanced scorecard, as long as a
basic IT infrastructure – computers, and intranet
or other technology, and trained personnel –
exists. However, installation likely will be more
costly relative to a smaller company’s revenues
and sophistication at the time the system is
implemented. The four-partner, Itasca, Ill., USA-
based certified public accounting firm Corbett
Duncan & Hubly reported spending between
$150 000 and $200 000 for balanced
scorecard- and dashboard-related staff
development, performance-based pay,
hardware and software in the late 1990s, while
the application CXO sold the multinational BAT
starts at $75 000. Sandeep Mathur, PMP,
manager – project governance for the
A business dashboard is aneasy-to-read user interfacethat organizes and presentsportfolio data in the sameway that an automobile’sdashboard displaysperformance information.
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 5
SIZE
MAT
TERS
Australian Tourist Commission (ATC) in
Sydney, says his office uses a one-page
Microsoft PowerPoint slide published over its
intranet to provide budget and schedule
performance, key milestones, risk management
and project status across the organization.
“Dashboards have enabled ATC to
standardize project reporting,” Mathur says. “It
has had no impact on the organizational
relationship but has provided management a
better vehicle to monitor the project portfolio.”
A company’s existing information systems
can compliment the cost justification. XML-
compliant database platforms can reduce the
cost of integrating an organisation’s new and
legacy applications, Carter says, though the
number and age of such systems may require
additional outlays for information conversion
and consolidation. CXO’s dashboard software
is “application agnostic,” Carter says, so it can
work for companies that employ SAP, Oracle,
Microsoft and other systems simultaneously in a
single organization.
It can be especially costly to aggregate
and display continuously updated balanced
scorecard data from multiple sources across
the organization into a dashboard that
decision makers will understand and use. “If
you’re a business manager or senior executive,
the two most visible aspects of IT are,‘Does my
e-mail work, and is it secure?’ and’ Can I do
current reports on my own without asking for
help or getting old data?” Carter says.
Implementation costs of translating and
reducing complex data usually depend more
on management’s time to formulate the
balanced scorecard and strategy map than
on the price of software to process and display
the data, Carter stresses.
Size Matters?
Balanced scorecards scale well to
organizations of all sizes and are customizable
to particular lines of business, says Paul David,
president of the Scanlon Leadership Network in
East Lansing, Mich., USA. It’s critical to
determine the fact-based metrics that senior
executives and managers agree upon based
on priorities of a company’s strategic plan,
according to The Balanced Scorecard
Institute’s article, “What is the Balanced
Scorecard?” Processes then are designed to
collect relevant information and convert it to
numerical formats for display, analysis and
archiving via a dashboard, so decision makers
can track results and provide feedback.
Senior management commitment to the
process, consensus on strategy and goals, and
cohesiveness of employees and executives in
their pursuit is more important than size.
However, larger companies can run into
trouble with turf-protecting, change-resistant
executives. “The administrative (chief
technology office] type is probably our worst
nightmare,” Carter says. Smaller companies
that work on tighter budgets and rely on more
flexible, innovative management tend to have
fewer of these problems, Carter says.
Like any enterprise-wide mandate,
dashboard and balanced scorecard
implementation has to have senior
management sponsorship and participation,
not just buy-in, Kalow says. Both approaches
thrive on focus and simplification – though not
oversimplification. Be wary of managers who
concentrate on “red-light” problems to the
exclusion of other measures. “Make sure
everyone doesn’t rally around the red
[warning signs],” Kalow says, "because if you
do, your greens will go yellow and your yellows
will go red.
William Hoffman is a freelance writer based
in Denton, Texas, USA.
6
Gl
ob
al
Network
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 6
7-STEPTHREE. The senior management team
formed discussion groups to consider the
corporation’s goals and the financial and non-
financial metrics that would be key to reaching
those goals. Whip says the financial metrics
were the easy part: Executives wanted to
double 2004 fiscal year sales growth over the
target achieved in 2001 fiscal year, along with
some profit objectives.
FOUR. Based on non-financial metrics, the
company invested in the telecommunications
equipment, trained personnel and monitored
systems necessary to measure progress toward
that goal. The key metrics – customer service
and satisfaction, internal process improvement,
and employee learning and growth – fed back
into the financial performance measures.
FIVE. Company managers whittled their
performance measures to a key few and then
linked them through the strategy map to
corporate goals as a collaborative one. “The
discussions were really good, and I think in just
about every case we came to a consensus,”
Whip says.
SIX. Whip licensed Barberg’s InsightVision
dashboard software to allow everyone from
the boardroom to the warehouse to monitor
Horizon Fitness’ progress toward its goals.
“People tend to work a little harder because
they can and follow the results,” he says.
“They’re not shut out.”
SEVEN. Managers meet monthly to review
performance and conduct an annual
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats (SWOT) assessment as a review of the
competitive landscape. Whip says the firm is at
105 percent of its first quarter 2004 sales target.
“The thing I’ve learned,” he says,“is that [setting
up the balanced scorecard has] been a really
good way to bring your core management
into the process and give them ownership over
the strategy.”
7
7-STEPScorecardBob Whip, chief executive officer of Horizon
Fitness Inc., De Forest, Wis., USA, started his
wholesale fitness business in 2000 with a small
staff aiming for a high growth curve. He
adopted a balanced scorecard in 2002 as a
way of communicating the company’s
strategy throughout the organization.
ONE. Whip started with Web research. He
attended a seminar held by the Balanced
Scorecard Collaborative Inc., Kaplan and
Norton’s Lincoln, Mass., USA-based
professional services firm dedicated to
proselytizing the concept. “I wanted to make
sure that this was something that would stick –
not a fad,” Whip says.
TWO. Whip drew in his senior management
to view Web videos and other Internet-based
information. He brought in consultant Paul
Niven, author of Balanced Scorecard Step-by-
Step: Maximising Performance and Maintaining
Results [John Wiley & Sons, 2002], who took the
executives through some exercises and helped
them formulate Horizon Fitness’ strategy map.
Gl
ob
al
Network
Scorecard
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 7
PAST
management knowledge and practices and a
common project management lexicon, PMI
assists in improving the competence of
experienced and new project management
practitioners worldwide. Ultimately, these
current and future PMI Standards will lead to
worldwide excellence in the practice of
project management through consistently
applied project management knowledge and
practices.
Standards in the Publishing Process:
Continuing the tradition of periodically
updating the PMBOK® Guide, the PMBOK®
Guide – Third Edition Project Team, led by
Dennis Bolles, will be released later this fall
(South Africa’s spring). Please watch PMI’s
News section at www.pmi.org for information
on the release of the update to PMI’s de facto
standard for project management.
Standards in Development:
If you are interested in helping to achieve
their objective, please consider applying for
participation in one of these active projects:
• Program/Portfolio Management
• Practice Standard for Configuration
Management
• Practice Standard for Scheduling
• Practice Standard for Work Breakdown
Structures Update
• Automotive Extension to the PMBOK‚
Guide Individuals who wish to assist the
program inits work as a volunteer are asked to
visit PMI’s Web site at:
http://www.pmi.org/info/PP_StandardsVolunteering.asp
and follow the instructions for new volunteers.
The Past, the Present and the Future of OPM3
In this edition, we look at the past…Look out
for the present and future in the next edition.
Past: The OPM3 Charter
Organizations of all kinds devote significant
effort to defining their objectives, and to
designing strategies to help them achieve
strategic goals. Yet, as has been well
documented, strategies often fail to deliver the
successful, consistent, predictable outcomes
they were devised to produce. Sometimes
strategies fail because they are unrealistic;
sometimes organizations cannot achieve the
8
Global Network
Two Thousand Three marked the ‘Twentieth
Anniversary’ of PMI® volunteers’ first attempt
to codify the Project Management Body
of Knowledge (PMBOK®). Published in 1983,
the Project Management Quarterly Special
Report, Ethics, Standards and Accreditation,
was PMI’s first published Standard. Building
upon that work, in 1987, chartered by PMI,
volunteers’ work led to the publishing of the
PMBOK Standards. The next step in the
evolution was A Guide to the Project
Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK‚
Guide), published in 1996. The current PMBOK®
Guide – 2000 Edition refined the first edition and
continued PMI’s commitment to continuously
refresh, in accordance with a standard refresh
cycle, and improve this important reference.
Today, twenty-one years after the ESA report,
PMI’s Standards Program objective is to develop
Standards for the project management
profession that are valued by PMI members,
other stakeholders and the marketplace. In
addition, PMI is committed to further expanding
the PMBOK® by publishing additional standards.
Since the PMBOK® Guide – 2000 Edition was
published, PMI has published four other
standards: the Government Extension to the
PMBOK® Guide, the Construction Extension to
the PMBOK® Guide (Provisional Standard), the
Practice Standard for Work Breakdown
Structure, and the Project Manager
Competency Development Framework, and as
well, has adopted a fifth Standard, the US DoD
Extension to the PMBOK® Guide.
By identifying, defining, documenting and
championing generally accepted project
PMI’S STANDARD PROGRAMAnd a Focus on OPM3
By Lisa Marie Kruszewski, Standards Project Specialist,Project Management Institute
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 8
internal alignment required to move the strategy
forward; but often, strategies fail because
organizations have not acquired or developed
the capabilities to successfully implement these
strategies at the detailed, tactical level.
In a global economy, we may be competing
with organizations about which we know very
little, in parts of the world with which we may not
be at all familiar. It is clear that one critical
competitive advantage is the ability to translate
strategy into organizational success through
projects. This advantage means developing not
only the facility to accomplish individual
projects—as important as this is—but developing
an overall organisational orientation toward
treating as many endeavors as appropriate as
projects, and managing them individually and
collectively in such a way as to support the
organization’s strategic goals. This approach is
what is meant by the term “organizational project
management,” which PMI® defines as “the
application of knowledge, skills, tools, and
techniques to organizational and project
activities to achieve the aims of an organization
through projects.” While individual projects may
be considered tactical, organizational project
management is, by definition, strategic because,
used properly, it reflects an organization’s business
strategy and provides a high-level perspective
and regulation of critical resources that directly
impact financial results. Seen in this light,
organizational project management is a strategic
advantage in this highly competitive economy.
How, then, does an organisation improve in the
area of organisational project management?
• An organization needs to know what specific
best practices—knowledge, skills, tools,
techniques—have been proven consistently
useful in other organizations;
• An organization needs a method to assess its
current competence state of maturity; and
• An organization needs to know how
to improve the specific capabilities it identifies
as requiring improvement.
In attempting to address these needs,
individuals and organizations have developed
various models and methodologies to assist in the
pursuit of maturity. In 1998, the Project
Management Institute (PMI‚)—a global
membership organization serving over 135,000
9
PAST
members in the project management profession—
entered this important arena by chartering the
Organizational Project Management Maturity
Model (OPM3‰) Project Team to develop
a global standard for organizational project
management. OPM3’s intent is:
• To guide the development of capabilities
necessary to execute organizational strategy
through successful projects, distinguished from
capabilities associated only with the
management of individual projects; and
• To be able to be used by organizations of all
sizes and types, in virtually any industry or culture.
Past: The OPM3 Research
PMI is, among many things, a standard-setting
organization; therefore, above all else, OPM3 is a
standard. PMI believes the project management
profession and organizations in general will
embrace OPM3, as the global standard for
organizational project management. In the effort
to achieve this result, the OPM3 project team
conducted the research that would ensure that
the end product would reflect true end-user
requirements. This research was accomplished
through a process known as Quality Function
Deployment (QFD), which resulted in what is
called a House of Quality (HoQ). The HoQ
illustrates the consensus-derived requirements that
knowledgeable people indicated OPM3 would
need to fulfill, in order to meet the needs it is
designed to address. Throughout the OPM3
development process, large numbers of volunteers
from the global project management community
were involved, bringing highly diverse
backgrounds from many geographies, industries,
organizations, and levels within organizations. As a
result of this research, QFD, HoQ, and the global
breadth of input, OPM3 is a comprehensive
model, satisfying important identified customer
requirements.
In fulfilling the chartered objectives for OPM3,
the OPM3 Project Team conducted extensive
research of many maturity models, surveyed many
executives and garnered input from many project
management professionals. They received input
from large and small organizations, from virtually all
industries, and from many countries around the
world. The result is a standard that is applicable to
most organizations, in most industries, in most
locations, most of the time.
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 9
1. Determine the applicable performance
criteria
2. Decide on the desired levels of proficiency
3. Perform an assessment
4. Plan to address gaps in proficiency
5. Progress through to greater proficiency
PMI provide a full description of the
competency development process in their
publication ‘Project manager competency
development framework’.
Competency and Role Matrix
Creation of the role matrix requires
understanding of the key roles and
competencies needed to deliver successful
projects. These will vary according to the
nature of the organisation. For instance in an IT
development team roles might include; Project
Manager, Process Architect and Product
Architect to name a few.
Each project role should be identified and
then the competencies needed to fulfil the
roles can be described.
Some competencies would be applicable
to more than one role, so a matrix that maps
roles against specific skill sets is the most
economic means of documenting and
presenting the relationships.
For instance the competency relating to
project cost management includes ability to
revise cost estimates and create budget
updates. This may also be a requirement that
applies to certain technical or line staff that
support project efforts from within
departmental boundaries.
Competencies need to be described in
terms of criteria that can be used as objective
measures of performance. A formal
performance ‘contract’ between the project
and the resources assigned may be desirable.
Such a contract should refer to the
performance measures that will be applied
when the assignment is complete.
Competency assessment reports
In some organisations assessments are
conducted by the line manager. While the line
may have functional responsibility for the team
member, it may not have a complete picture
10
Insight The standard selected is identified by the
statement "The organisation uses a formal
assessment process to measure the
competency levels of project personnel".
Evidence that such systems and processes
are in place consists of
o A competence assessment plan
o A competency and role matrix
o Competency assessment reports
o Individual performance metrics
o Competence based recruitment and
job allocation
o Competency reports
The rest of this article explores what these
processes may look like in practice. The
material itself is drawn from a variety of sources
and is not included in the OPM3 model itself.
The Competence Assessment Plan
The competency assessment plan includes
developmental steps. These are followed as a
cycle over time. This ensures that competency
assessment leads to learning and growth for
the individual. A five stage process for the
individual to progress through is suggested.
Measuring Competency
in Project Staff.
Examining a Best
Practice from PMI’s
new standard OPM3
Insight
TThere is a growing body of material describing the
new PMI® standard for organisation project
management maturity OPM3. This article explores
one of the numerous best practices contained in
the standard.
By Ian Jay
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 10
the
y m
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of performance. In this situation some input
needs to be provided by the recipient of the
team members services. In the case of a
project manager this would probably be the
project sponsor. For other team members the
project manager may be best positioned to
give this input.
Competencies are made up of several
elements. PMI® uses a two part model, one
relating to project management knowledge
competencies and the other to personal
competencies.
Whatever model is used it should be
applied consistently across the organisation to
ensure the integrity of comparative results
between groups and individuals.
Individual Performance Metrics
From the assessment process it should be
possible to track competency of individual
project managers. Regular reviews supporting
the competency building process are required.
In terms of measuring performance, a number
of metrics may apply. Appropriate metrics will
vary with circumstances but a rough guide is
set out below.
For the project manager the metrics can be
split into two areas; Business results, and
Managerial performance.
Business results can be measured by
o On time delivery
o Meeting contractual requirements
o Performing within budget
Managerial performance can be measured by
o Effectiveness of the project
management process
o Direction provided
o Overall leadership
o Team performance
Competency Based Recruitment and JobAllocation
Best practice suggests recruitment be
based on competence and that individuals
are assigned to roles that best suit them.
To be effective project managers should be
competent in planning, communicating,
negotiating, leading, and problem solving.
According to research personal characteristics
should include experience, commitment and
the need to achieve.
The outcome of such practices is that
morale can be expected to improve and
performance will climb with it.
Competency Reports
The final indicator supporting the best
practice under review is the competency
report. These are on the job assessments of
competency. As mentioned earlier these need
to be consistently applied to yield meaningful
results. Reporting back to the line or functional
manager by the project manager is a critical
aspect of this organisation capability. The level
of formality may vary in organisations but the
feedback needs to be shared with the team
member to facilitate learning and growth. The
same information goes to the line manager to
ensure appropriate developmental support for
the team member.
Conclusion
The OPM3 standard suggests that to
support the processes described above the
development of cross functional teams and
establishment of training programs would be
appropriate.
One benefit of different functional
department members working together is
learning about each others roles. In time the
organisation develops individuals with multiple
skills. Training programmes coordinated with
these processes provide foundation
knowledge to underpin the learning and
development process.
References1. Kerzner, Harold; Project Management a systems approach
to planning, scheduling, and controlling" 8th Ed. Wiley 2003.
ISBN 0-471-22577-0
2. PMI; "Organisational Project Management Maturity Model"
Project Management Institute 2003. ISBN 1-930699-08-5 & 1-
930699-43-3
3. PMI; "Project Manager Competency Development
(PMCD) Framework". Project Management Institute 2002.
ISBN 1-880410-93-1
4. Sauer, Christopher; Liu, Li; Johnston, Kim; "Where Project
Managers are King". Project Management Journal Vol. 32,
Number 4, pp 39 – 49. December 2001.
5. Whitten, Neal; "The Enter Prize Organisation organising
software projects for accountability and success". Project
Management Institute 1999. ISBN1-880410-79-6
11
Insight
Insight
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 11
Project closeouts are also effective for
driving ongoing enhancement of enterprise-
wide capabilities through a participative,
timely, data driven process. Organisations
should expect to see cost savings and/or
operational efficiencies brought about by
interventions to eliminate problems and root
causes surfaced through the closeout process.
I believe that successful project closeouts
are best done in a phased manner. First,
“discover” what people think, then “define”
root causes and next steps, and lastly
“communicate commitment” on key take-
aways and action items. While it is not
absolutely necessary to overtly communicate
closeouts as a “phased” process, distinguishing
the distinct stages of a closeout will help the IT
project manager suitably align resources and
expectations to meet respective phase
objectives.
Discovery
Awareness about the project closeout
phase and activities should start at the project
kickoff stage itself. Team members and
stakeholders should be encouraged to keep a
personal log of their feedback/ideas/
comments throughout the project lifecycle. This
will engage them in a constructive role, make
them feel “heard” and will ensure that there is
relevant data to make the closeout
meaningful.
Initiate the closeout through e-mail: One
of the easiest ways to start a project closeout is
send out an e-mail asking teams to respond
with inputs on “things that worked” and “things
that could be done differently.” Project
closeouts come down to just two assessment
aspects--“pluses and deltas.” If your team
members have been maintaining a log,
generating this feedback will not be a time-
consuming additional task to reckon with. The
expected outcome of this process would be a
master list of all inputs, maintained in the same
language and tone that they were received in,
under these two headings.
Orienting the closeout to this goal-oriented
framework and consumable internal
12
Out Look
The strategy of repeatable project
closeouts is to prepare the organisation for
continuous improvement by addressing and
acting on stakeholder expectations and
feedback. There is value to IT teams in terms of
better service delivery, increased credibility,
acceptance levels and customer satisfaction. It
is probably the only phase of a project, where
all stakeholders will have an equal opportunity
to weigh in with their inputs and feedback-so
why not make the best use of it?
Why Project
Close-outs Matter
What can project closeouts do for you?In a nutshell, you should:
Ask them to list the things that workedand things that can be done differently.
Separate issues from ownership, andhone in to ascertain root causes on internalvariables.
To share knowledge on what works well,and signal commitment to fix the painpoints through suitable interventions.
Discover
Define
Communicate commitment.
what stakeholders andteam members think.
the root causes.
Copyright 1999−2004 gantthead.com, Inc. Reproduced by permission ofgantthead.com, Inc
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 12
Out L
ook
Out Look
assessment package will go a long way toward
ensuring that the closeout is accepted and in
fact welcomed across different groups as a
positive initiative for the organisation.
Conduct a solution-oriented brainstormingsession to collate and share inputs.The e-mail-based discovery should be followed
by a brief facilitated brainstorming session.
Engage the audience in an interactive process
of collating their non-edited inputs. They might
tend to either build off each others' inputs or
take a different view altogether. Regardless of
what you hear, make sure that all inputs are
“thrown on the board.” A solution-
oriented brainstorming session
will help all team members
see each others feedback,
and possibly refine their
own initial contributions to
the process.
The key message
should be to share the
inputs and feedback freely,
reserving any judgments for
a later time–where you start defining the
potential root causes for the various feedback
items.Lets look at how you can channel these
inputs toward achieving outcomes that add
value to the project and your organisation.
Definition
The goal of this phase is to review all the
feedback and filter out the root causes from
the observed symptoms. Also, the goal is to
completely "depersonalise" the feedback, and
remove all references to specific individual
names and hone in on roles and responsibilities.
The expected outcome of this process will
be a master list of all inputs, bringing in some
standardised tone and tenor to all the
feedback. The biggest challenge will be in
keeping this an explorative and positive fact-
finding exercise - and making sure participants
relate to those objectives.
Separate the issues from the ownership.
To set the foundation of the Discovery
phase, separate discovery of the root causes
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 13
Communicate Commitment
This phase signals the collective
interest of an organization to find
solutions to the pain points,and a
commitment to continue doing
things that work well. The
commitment phase helps
organisations define specific
appropriate interventions that meet
the set of needs identified above.
Communicate action items and log of
learning. The commitment phase is all about
identifying the list of action items that address
key pluses for repeating in the future, and
deltas that need to be addressed. While doing
so, make sure that you separate the short term
from the long term, and the internal from the
external variables.
The pluses should be put together into a live
log of learning that all project managers should
have access to across the enterprise. Where
possible, it would be valuable to include
templates/samples of artefacts that helped
create value in the project. This would provide
an incentive and opportunity for enterprise-
wide visibility, and de facto, help share
organizational assets that can be leveraged by
14
Out Look
from the ownership of the root cause. It's really
about the ability to frame the real problem in
an explorative manner,without diving into "who
owns the issue." Bringing in the ownership
dimension will bring in a degree of sensitivity
that deflects the effectiveness of the
improvement process.
Articulate the real root causes.
The core deliverable of the Definition
process is to articulate the real root causes for
both the "pluses" and the "deltas." Identifying
root causes enables organisational and
personal soul searching of what causative
factors influenced the people, processes and
outcomes throughout the project.
For instance, instead of noting, "The systems
architect did not respond well to design
change requests" or "the system architect was
not cooperative," focus the attention on why
the systems architect was unable to meet a set
of expectations. The root causes could be
aplenty, all the way from conflicting project
priorities, lack of clear requirements, lack of
escalation paths to seek advice, being risk-
averse, etc. This process requires an open
dialog in a collaborative and safe
environment.
Separate internal and external variables.
As the root causes are identified, separate
the internal from the external variables. The
internal variables are those that can be
controlled under the direct influence of the
involved persons, and that carried over to the
commitment phase. Knowing that certain
variables are outside direct control and
intervention will set expectations around
realistic next steps.
The expected outcome of the Definition
phase would be a core list of identified root
causes for things that worked and things that
can be done differently.
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 14
a larger set of stakeholders. Some people
might even call this a self-perpetuating
knowledge management environment!
The deltas should result in a list of action
items and intervention points that will be
implemented to ensure that the causative
factors are addressed. By addressing the
expectations and feedback from key
stakeholders and team members and
channeling it toward opportunities for future
change, organisations can ensure that their
structures, processes and skill sets continuously
facilitate successful outcomes.
The long-term benefit of repeated project
closeouts done through such a constructive
framework is that eventually the root causes
that impact solution delivery and operational
efficiency across the organisation will be
addressed. As an added bonus, IT project
teams would ensure that their reputation and
credibility continues to rise. The value of project
close out applies to the entire organisation,
and not just IT teams.
So, the next time you chart a Work
Breakdown Structure, ink in enough time for
conducting results-oriented project closeout
sessions. Stakeholder feedback counts!
About the Author: Sainath Nagarajan plays
business analysis and project management
roles at a global, publicly traded business
services company. These views do not
necessarily represent the views of his employer.
Sainath has a Masters degree in Information
Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon
University, a Masters degree in Financial
Management, and has read at the Program on
Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
Out L
ook
Out Look
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 15
ProjectNet: How did your career in Project
Management start?
Pieter du Plessis: I started out as a chemical
engineer. One of my first jobs was to get a plant
up and running for the Atomic Energy
Corporation. The plant had a lot of
uncertainties, such as technical risks and a lot
of improvements were required so we turned
increasingly to project management in a client
project management-type capacity, which
helped me to understand the basics. I became
a commissioning manager of the plant and
one day I realized that I’d spent the whole day
doing shift registers and decided that it was
time to move on. Bateman was recruiting
people who they could grow into future
leaders – so personal attributes were more
important than experience, so I sent my CV.
They interviewed me, asking which area of
Bateman I was interested in. I knew nothing
about materials handling so decided to make
a complete career change and started there
as a project manager.
PNet: What did you learn about the pm
environment in the earlier years?
PdP: Having come from a client project
management background and then working
in a contractor project management role, after
a few months I thought I must have been mad.
From having a high-level perspective of the
projects, I had to adjust my view to deal with
detail – the bottom line - and assume ultimate
responsibility for the projects. I learned a lot – I
realized that in this environment I had to know
the detail. I remember sitting at a progress
meeting with an instructional engineer who
questioned my knowledge of the terminology
being used. He gave me a structural steel
handbook, which acquainted me with the
detail.
The Bateman projects in equipment supply
allowed me to get into lump-sum work in which
Bateman took the risk. I had to learn about
managing risk – the biggest part of project
management.
Some project took me overseas, such as one in
Hong Kong, and as a result I learned a lot about
other cultures. I also realized that a person’s
country has less influence on their outlook on a
project than their school of training.
PNet: How many projects would you say you
have you worked on in your career?
PdP: Probably about 40 or 50. The benefit of
doing a lot of smaller projects is that you learn
something through each lifecycle. I believe that
someone who has done ten small projects has
learned more than someone who has done one
big one.
PNet: What are your views on a pm certification
such as the PMP?
PdP: It’s a good exercise for people getting into
project management,but doesn’t help you take
on a project. It teaches the language of project
management.
PNet: So what does make a good project
manager?
PdP: Training helps, but leaders are born.
Successful project managers usually have a
specific personality profile. Experience and
training can improve your knowledge but it is
difficult to change your personality, which
determines how you motivate a team, and your
attention to detail, for example. You can be
taught to do certain things, but in a crunch
people revert to their natural style.When I recruit
team members I look for those with a particular
16
Getting to Know You
In our first people profile section,
ProjectNet talks to Bateman Minerals
MD, Pieter du Plessis about his career
in project management.
PM
Profile
PM
Profile
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 16
aptitude. You can give someone with aptitude
knowledge, but you can’t give someone with
the knowledge aptitude.
PNet: Is project management as a practice
interchangeable between industries?
PdP: I don’t really subscribe to the idea that
project management can be applied to any
environment. I think you need to know the
industry you’re in to be a good project
manager. This contributes to good stakeholder
management – being able to identify them
when you communicate a specific piece of
information, understanding the relationship
between aspects is absolutely key to
understanding and adequately managing the
risks. Commercial training related to the project
you’re involved in is also important, such as
international finance.
PNet: Do you see project management as a
management function or a career/profession
in itself?
PdP: If you want to be successful – it should be
seen as a career. The demands on a project
manager are becoming so complex that it
deserves a more professional status. That said,
there are few courses offering a degree in
project management and those that there are,
aren’t comprehensive enough. People who
excel in project management usually excel in
general management, and typically become
senior management. This shouldn’t mean,
however, that they don’t make a career out of
being a project manager.
PNet: Who or what has significantly
contributed to your growth as a project
manager? How can aspiring project managers
develop themselves?
PdP: A project manager is someone with lots of
scars on their back. You learn through trial and
error. There is no single recipe for any project.
You get "street smart", learning more from
projects that went wrong than those that went
right.
I do read a lot, and I’ve read most published
works on project management. Sometimes I
agree with the approach, sometimes I don’t,
but it helps you hone your skills.
As early as possible, aspiring project managers
need to get themselves into a position on
projects where they can learn to understand
and manage the aspects of the different
engineering interfaces and their impact on
each other.
PNet: Which projects have been a highlight
and a lowlight in your career?
PdP: A highlight would be a Zimbabwean
project, the biggest lumpsum turnkey project
Bateman had ever done at that stage. It had so
many facets to it. It was funded by a SA and
Bateman export scheme. Zimbabwe ran out of
money, which caused some delays, but at the
end the client was happy. I realized that
whether or not you think a project is successful is
irrelevant; the client perception is what counts.
A lowlight would be the AEC project. We were
dealing with partly-developed technology and
were trying to define the outcome before
realizing there were technical barriers that
meant starting over on a different tack. I was
common to go to work at eight on a Monday
morning and go home at five on a Friday
evening.At some stage I was quite despondent
about what had gone wrong [losing the
gradient on the cascade] and I went to my
manager and offered to resign. His response
was, "I’ve just spent X million Rand on your
training and you want to resign?"
PNet: In your view, what are some of the
important considerations with regard to project
management?
PdP: In South Africa there are not enough
standardised methodologies and this causes
misinterpretation of the information put out.
Project managers need to focus on getting the
right blend of personality traits in their teams.Not
enough people do team profiling, where you
can base teams on their psychometric makeup,
such as combining capability for high attention
to detail with low. It’s a fact that some people
attract success, while others attract failure. Of
course you’ll want the former on your team.
Pieter is married with children. He occasionally
hunts in winter and enjoys being in nature. His
spare time is taken up largely by his children
and their sport.
17
PM
Profile
PM
Profile
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 17
IPMA-ICEC International ExpertSeminar
The Project Engineering Area at the
Engineering School of Bilbao, University of the
Basque Country, is pleased to take their turn in
organizing, together with the International
Project Management Association (IPMA), the
International Cost Engineering Council (ICEC)
and the Spanish Project Engineering
Association (AEIPRO), the III IPMA-ICEC
International Expert Seminar. The event will
constitute a suitable forum for those
professionals in the different branches of
engineering. The Organising Committee of the
Congress is pleased to invite all specialists
working in Industry, Administration, Engineering
and Consulting Companies, Universities,
Research Centres, and other Organisations
related to projects, to attend the presentations.
Topic Areas
The Congress will be accept various kinds of
research and development material related to
Project Management and Cost Engineering,
including technological aspects and
applications with sufficient conceptual,
methodological or other relevant contributions.
The following topic areas are suggested
1. Project Management at all levels
2. Project Cost Management
3. Project Risk Management
4. Project Management: the Profession
5. Leadership and Project Team Building
Bilbao your host City
Bilbao, capital city of Bizkaia, located at the
western side of the peninsular Basque
Provinces is the natural hub of a cross-border
area known as the Atlantic Arch. The city is
located at about 14km. from the coastal line,
at the beginning of an ample marine estuary
dividing Bilbao into two clearly defined parts.
On the right bank stands the old downtown
and in the left is located the modern city.
A massive infrastructure transformation and
urban regeneration process has turned the city
towards the highest goals of urbanism,
sociability, progress, hospitality, culture, and civil
development.
Bilbao Guggenheim Museoa, well known
around the world represents what Bilbao wants
to become in the coming years. In the near
future it will have to reinforce its tradition of a
industrial and financial city,
Call for Abstracts
Abstracts should be sent to the Congress
Secretariat by electronic mail, and should be
written in Word format or compatible. They shall
not exceed 300 words, and the topic areas
(maximum of two) to which they subscribe,
must be shown at the end. Candidates should
clearly express the purpose, results and
conclusions of the work.
Provisional suitability of the papers will be
notified to the authors, and final acceptance
will be dependent on the final paper.
18
Our WorldNews and views in PM
Project net july august2004 29/7/04 2:12 PM Page 18
CALENDAR
LANGUAGESAWARDS
Calendar
Deadline for submission of abstracts:
May 10, 2004
Deadline for submission of full papers:
June 30, 2004
Deadline for final full paper acceptance:
September 3, 2004
Languages
Communications will be admitted in
Spanish, Basque or English indistinctly
Awards
In order to encourage the submission of
papers, AEIPRO provides several awards for the
best papers presented.
The survey forms completed by delegates
at Global Knowledge 2004 have been
analysed and here are some of the results:
• Attendants were asked where they found out
about the conference. The emailing list and
PMSA website seem to have been the most
effective, together accounting for about 70%
of the information-sharing.
• All those who responded indicated that
there is a need for the conference, and
nearly all received significant value from
attending.
• The majority of respondents rated the
programme as good or very good. The same
applied to the general quality of
presentation material, professionalism of
presenters, quality of conference material,
relevance of topics covered, the facilities
and overall efficiency.
• Some of the feedback on the venue was that
delegates would have preferred rooms to be
closer together. This will be a consideration
when identifying future venues, though the
options are limited by the layout of available
conference facilities to accommodate
different streams in conferences of this size.
• The majority of respondents rated the
following as "good": workshops and panel
discussions; research papers; gala dinner;
cocktail evening; and sponsor exhibition.
• The current frequency of the conference,
held every two years, remains the preferred
frequency.
• Less than half of the delegates were PMPs
• About 60% of the delegates were already
PMSA members.
• The most popular speakers were Bill Duncan,
Lynne Crawford, Terry Cooke-Davis and Louis
Mercken and Alan Harpham, which shows
the money spent of bringing these experts to
South Africa was well worth it.
The Tshwane branch is committed to offering
member value and one of the avenues for
achieving this is their monthly workshops. In
June, Patrys Visser of the Standards Generating
Body and Les Labuschagne, PMSA President,
made presentations to approximately 25
workshop attendees on the topic of career
paths in project management. Patrys
explained the role, progress and outcomes of
the standards generation process for project
management and Les spoke about project
management as a profession, comparing the
often-confused concepts of knowledge,
education and certification.
19
Quick facts – Conference 2004
Tshwane branch puts knowledgesharing and networking into action
B o t h m e m b e r s a n d n o n - m e m b e r s a t t e n d e d t h e T s h w a n e b r a n c h w o r k s h o p i n J u n e .
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Capturing lessons and building them into
later projects has always been hard. This book
provides some insight into methods of doing
this. By using models, the context of lessons is
fully appreciated, and the real systematic
lessons are discovered. By using a dedicated
model builder for all projects the lessons of one
can be transferred to the next. The lessons may
only become apparent during the process of
claims. By using models to support claims
realistic costs can be arrived at. In addition the
root cause of the claim can be identified and
avoided in later projects.
The author, Terry Williams, is a Professor at
Strathclyde University. He is a specialist in
project modelling. This is supported by a
background in operations research and risk
model development.He uses project models to
support claims in large civil and defence
contracts.
The project model can support a claim
The problem Terry concentrates on, is
dealing with estimates in the project model. He
mainly covers cost and duration problems,
though the aspect of quality is also mentioned.
The problems are not trivial, and Terry provides
some insight, relating to the pitfalls of estimating
techniques. Well built models of the project
make it possible to forecast the impact of
changes and risks. Post event models can be
used to establish the precise value of a claim.
The main problem faced by the modeller is
deciding what constitutes a realistic estimate.
A variety of approaches from basic single
estimates are discussed. Most of these revolve
around PERT. Terry explains some of the main
drawbacks to the PERT approach, and gives
insight into other methods of getting the same
results.
The third problem area discussed is the
relationship between System Dynamics (SD),
and normal network models. Project managers
have not adopted SD as a common tool and
Terry gives some of the reasons for this. He then
explains the use that SD can be put to in a
project.
Simulation helps
Terry explains the role that models play in
the planning process. For instance he shows
how the classification of risk events impacts the
model design. In particular the impact of risk is
examined with simulations. These are based on
Monte Carlo tools, these run in spreadsheets or
on network models. Such models help separate
critical and crucial activities. They also show
how likely a crucial activity is to become
critical.
The role of the model builder
As a professional ‘model builder’ Terry offers
some interesting views about the role. He
explains how the model builder needs to
interact with the project team. He also provides
some advice about how to obtain estimates
from the team. The organisation context of the
role is discussed. Terry suggests that the model
builder should be part of the Project Office
staff. From this position lessons can be
examined and transferred from one project to
the next.
The book provides a lot of useful information
about model building in general. It also gives
insight into accepted project modelling
practices. It has a substantial bibliography that
draws on the field of operations research, as
well as the various project journals. It is not
‘light’ reading, but gives practical advice to
project planners. Aerospace and civil
engineering projects are used as examples in
the text, but the techniques can be used
anywhere.
Terry Williams; ‘Modelling Complex Projects’
Wiley 2002, ISBN 0-471-89945-3
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Rev
iew
"ModellingComplex Projects”
Review
By Ian Jay
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