launching monitoring and controlling

8/6/2019 Launching Monitoring and Controlling

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Launching, Monitoring &

Controlling

Launching


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Launching Launching involves:

Acquiring personnel From finishing projects From lower-priority projects F

rom new hires From contracts

Assembling a cohesive team Maximizing cooperation and synergy Avoiding conflicts

Assigning roles to team members M

apping team members to persona in theplan/schedule Assigning expert roles Assigning leadership roles

Motivating the team


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Acquiring Personnel Personnel should be selected carefully, using:

Performance (on previous projects) They produce high output They can problem-solve

Ability to cooperate (be a team player)

They avoid conflicts with others They trust their team to do their own tasks They understand techniques to work independently

Trustworthiness They give credit where due They do not violate terms of use or licenses They are reliable when given an assignment

Leadership/mentoring abilities They can make decisions, especially difficult ones They can encourage junior team members They lead by example, rather than by lecturing


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Assembling a Cohesive Team People to avoid:

People who dominate all conversations People who never change their tune, even when

outnumbered and clearly proven wrong People who seem to have conflicts in any group situation

People to seek out: People who listen to others People who can accept a unanimous decision, even if they

dont agree with it People who can deal with abrasive personalities or

conflicts C

ooperation factors: Team motivation activities Responsibility Challenge


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Assembling a Cohesive Team How to promote the team attitude:

Have the team accomplish something together e.g. An adventure trip (mountain hike) e.g. Compete in programming contest If the activities can be more personal than professional, it

may turn out to team build more effectively Personal activities cause an employee to drop their defenses The accomplishment can establish mutual trust, as well as

spark friendships

Have the team be ultimately responsible for the product If the product is terrible, the team will be held responsible If the product is brilliant, no-one will steal their thunder T

he responsibility will make team members know their role issignificant in the products (and companys) success This can create a sense of team pride

Try to take away worries, especially individual ones Employees have a hard time committing to a team if they are

worried about their job, money, etc.


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Assigning Roles to Team Members Each of the persona in the schedule needs to be

mapped to an appropriate person

This should be easy, since persona had a list ofrequired and desirable skills

The team members who have the most knowledge in aparticular area are designated as experts

e.g. User interface expert, database expert

Team members who exhibit leadership qualities can beconsidered for team leader


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Leadership Qualities Experience

Experience with successful projects can giveconfidence

Experience with failed projects can force a person toaccept and learn from their mistakes

Previous projects result in more technical expertise

Responsibility

Leaders can delegate responsibility This involves the willingness to let go of a task

This also involves trust in others to do it right

This also requires significant self-confidence, allowingothers to possibly upstage them

Good leaders lead only by example Coding practices are simply just used

They stay late if something is incomplete

They demonstrate success, rather than strive for it


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Leadership Qualities Personality

Leaders can handle a crisis They use patience, and solve the problem the right

way, not panic and have to do it again

Leaders are approachable and easy-going Team members should feel comfortable discussing

their problems with them They do not need to publicly discipline anyone

Leaders are natural motivators They must themselves be a team member They should evoke feelings of pride and unity

Professionalism Leaders know how to write E-Mails & documents They know how to give seminars They know how to dress They know how to act around superiors & customers


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Leadership Roles A leader has many roles:

Decision-making & problem-solving A leader has the expertise to make a confident decision A leader knows who to ask for help

Delegation

A leader should know to whom to delegate responsibilities A leader should trust the delegate to do it A leader should follow up, to ensure progress is being made

Rewards (positive reinforcement) A leader should reinforce good behaviour (e.g. an

achievement) with rewards e.g. Bonuses, stock options, new office/equipment

Punishment (negative reinforcement) A leader may correct bad behaviour with punishments However, this practice is discouraged, as it demotivates

employees A leader may also simply speak with an employee, making it

clear that such behaviour is intolerable


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Motivating the Team IT professionals naturally feel a sense of pride

in their own work

Remember that these people are professionals

Professionals are rarely motivated by money It is possible to make more money doing

something else

Each organization might have their own

motivational priorities However, mostIT professionals care about thesame things


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Motivating the Team Here are some common motivational factors:

Varied and challenging work

A sense of achievement

A sense of responsibility A sense of team unity

Recognition of achievements (public)

Leadership opportunities

Growth opportunities

Intra-team friendships Job security

Financial rewards and pay


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Motivating the Team Here are things project managers can do to improve

motivation:

Alternate project types for employees

Increase responsibility/challenge with experience

Get team to commit to projects Recognize individual and team achievements

Provide leadership/mentoring opportunities

Provide opportunities for upward movement

Provide team-promoting activities

Provide in-house training and/or certification Provide bonuses or stock options

Positive reinforcement


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De-motivating the Team Here are some things managers should try not to do:

Put together team members with a bad history

Force unrealistic schedules onto the team

Force late-night or weekend overtime

Keep incompetent/antagonistic people (free ride) Fail to recognize hard work

Encourage autobahn development

Steal credit for a project away from the team

Negative reinforcement (e.g. public criticism)


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Motivation The start of a project should result in very high motivation

Team members are excited about the prospects of the new project Motivation should remain high if the manager doesnt screw it up! However, as work becomes more mundane, less important,

motivation will naturally decrease

As team members transition to new projects, motivation will transfer

ExcitementAbout

ProspectsWork

SignificanceDecreasing

Motivationfor NextProject

Time

Motivation


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Meeting Lifecycle Forming

Team members are introduced, including their expertise

Storming Decisions about technologies and methodologies Decisions about roles for each team member Conflicts arising over leadership roles

Norming Major decisions are made, so progress is possible Conflicts are resolved, and leaders are chosen Individuals know their roles Significant work can begin

Performing Most productive stage

Work occurs in parallel Cooperation is maximized Team members have mutual respect and trust


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Characteristics of an Effective Team Conflicts are resolved easily

Enthusiasm and commitment

Creative problem-solving

Job satisfaction Team members have a sense of belonging and purpose

Team members cooperate to make decisions

Well-planned and well-controlled meetings


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Characteristics of a Dysfunctional Team Status meetings become gripe sessions

Lack of motivation

Dissatisfaction with work

P

oor communication Lack of mutual respect and/or trust

Meetings that go on and on

People talk at meetings saying the same thing againand again


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Kick-off Meeting A kick-off meeting is a formal way to start a project

It can involve introducing the team members andtheir expected roles

It could involve brainstorming for ideas about theproject

e.g. how to solve some problems

This could be saved for another meeting


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Controlling

Monitoring & Controlling


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Monitoring & Controlling Monitoring:

Observing the projects progress

Status reports

Meetings Controlling:

Taking action to increase velocity or quality

Re-organizing team structure

Prevent gold-plating, or the inadequate attention


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Controlling

Monitoring


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General Meeting Suggestions Meetings should never be too long

Meetings should never last more than 1 hour, with 30minutes as a good guide

Meeting invitees should be carefully chosen You must invite anyone who might have an opinion in the

decision-making process You should not invite anyone who doesnt need or want to

be there Meetings should be frequent enough to monitor progress

without getting too far off-track Daily meetings are ok for a small team

In this case, they should be 5-20 minutes

Weekly meetings are common The result could be that meetings become tiresome and are

not conducive to active participation and motivation


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Meetings Status meetings

Team members report their status on each of their assigned tasks

In XP, these are daily

In traditional PM, these are weekly

Problem-solving meetings

Team members meet to solve some significant problem thatcame up

The meeting is to quickly discuss and evaluate options, not to dothe work!

Milestone analysis meetings

The team members have completed some milestone

This meeting lets them look back to see how well they did

This is where you would check estimates against actual times, tomeasure velocity and how accurate the estimates were

The QA members, and developers, might comment on the quality


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Documenting Progress There are several approaches to documenting progress:

Amended Gantt charts:

September October November December

User InterfacePrototype

RegistrationDialog

etc


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Milestone trend charts (shown is a stable trend):

Week

On schedule

1

2

3

3

2

1

late

early

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12


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Milestone trend charts (shown is a rising trend):

Week

On schedule

1

2

3

3

2

1

late

early

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12


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Milestone trend charts (anomalous changes shown):

Week

On schedule

1

2

3

3

2

1

late

early

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12


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Earned value analysis charts:

Time

Progress

actual

estimated


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Controlling

Controlling


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Problem-Solving Strategy Always remember that a problem is an opportunity

Daniel Cougers problem-solving process:

Define the problem

Compile relevant data

Generate ideas

Evaluate and prioritize ideas

Develop an implementation plan


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Decision-Making Strategies There are several approaches to decision-making:

Directive

The leader makes the decision on behalf of the team

Participative

Everyone on the team contributes to the decision-making

Consultative

The leader consults with team members in order tomake a correct decision her/himself


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Conflict Resolution Strategies There are several approaches to dealing with conflicts:

Avoidant

Team members dont voice their opinions, in order tobe a team player

Combative Team members are overly aggressive with their ideas

and pursue them endlessly

Collaborative

Team members voice their opinions and look for a

mutually satisfactory solution

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