The Project Presentation

The big day is here to present a proposed project to stakeholders. You prepared a slideshow to provide visual aids so you make a clear presentation. Looks like you are well prepared for this presentation.

I have been to two presentations that blew up with displeased stakeholders. 

Presentation of a proposed cell phone tower in a residential community. It was presented at a neighborhood board meeting. The Project Coordinator started the slideshow and fielded questions that could not be answered. The Project Coordinator started to get nervous and stopped the slideshow and kept dodging all questions from the angry stakeholders. The chairman of the board had to jump in to address the Project Coordinator, he said can you provide the answers? He could not. The presentation was a failure. The Project Coordinator was not sincere to say I will get back to you on that question and just kept on presenting without being able to answer any questions.

Presentation of a proposed major neighborhood road work improvement project at a community town hall meeting. This presentation was slick and well prepared, but it ended in the community disapproving of it. The Project Managers did not crack under fire from the community. They kept their composure. Why did their presentation fail? They did not do a good job collecting traffic data and community input for the presentation. I call the examples they gave cherry picking and the community knew that they were cherry picking. 

Lessons to be learned from the two failed presentations.

1) Have subject matter experts available to help you field questions that you cannot properly answer. You need to anticipate the questions of the stakeholders in advance so you need to be well prepared. It's just common sense.

2) You think you have a polished presentation that will wow the stakeholders. Make sure you have accurate data to support your presentation.

(Note - this article was originally written by Drake Settsu and published on projectmanagement.com/blogs/419316/Project-Management-in-Real-Life in October 2018)

The Plastic Bag Ban

Hawaii Say bye bye to free bags on Oahu

The City Council on Oahu approved a nonsense law that went into effect on 07-01-2018 banning plastic bags. Stores will be fined if they give out bags to customers on Oahu without charging 15 cents for each bag. The bags sold will need to be reusable plastic bags that are compostable or paper bags that are recyclable. The store keeps the 15 cents as revenue and the bags sold are taxed adding additional cost for the consumer.

Unprepared shoppers are carrying purchased items out of the store without a bag to show defiance for the bonehead law. Shoplifters are attempting to carry unpurchased items out of the store too. Looks like the stores will need to use that 15 cents to add more security. It does appear that stores have beefed up their security. The consumer is being stalked by store security or staff to look at you as a potential shoplifter making your shopping experience uncomfortable.

The plastic bag ban will not save our planet. The planet will survive. The only thing that can destroy our planet is a Death Star. We need a law banning any construction of a Death Star.

Star Wars - Death Star aka Planet Destroyer 

Bike lanes gone wild

Bike lanes are accidents waiting to happen when the moment is just right. Who is at risk? The biker, car, and pedestrians.

Bike lanes have rules. Bikes ONLY!!! Hahaha, it's the wild wild west in the bike lane. If it has wheels it will be in the bike lane. No speed limit is set in in the bike lanes so watch out. Bikes and anything on wheels are blazing by in the bike lane.

Street parking for cars next to a bike lane requires the occupants of the parked car to cross the bike lane with extreme caution to get to the sidewalk safely without getting run over by anything on wheels. You also need to cross that bike lane again to get to your car. The bike lane is bidirectional so you better look both ways or you will end up in the emergency room. They just come out of nowhere so you need to be very alert by a bike lane. Drive ways in the bike lane requires everyone to watch out for each other.

Night time is when everyone is at a higher risk. The visibility in the bike lane is poor. Most bikers do not use safety lights like rear red blinking lights and handlebar lights. The anything on wheels does not help the situation by using the bike lane at night. Everyone is at risk of getting hit.

King Street - Honolulu (Oahu)

Sunway "Storm" Lyric Video

My Project Management Zen Moment

The view from Magic Island on the island of Oahu.

Project Managers need to get out of the office and find a place to refresh and have their zen moment to find the elusive pieces of the puzzle that their project is missing. The Pacific Ocean is my favorite place to have my zen moments when I need to find a solution for a project. 

Find your favorite zen moment place where you live. Just clear your mind and relax.

My Kanban Board

Sample Kanban Board

The Daily Kanban Board

Capture daily project activities of all your projects on a spreadsheet. Use the Kanban Board spreadsheet to make important project notes. The Kanban Board notes will be used to update your MS Project plans or other project tracking software. Keep it very simple with three columns consisting of To Do, In Progress, and Done. Create a daily tab on the spreadsheet carrying forward outstanding activities on the new Kanban Board spreadsheet tab. The tabs come in real handy as a source of historical activities on the projects.

Kanban Board at a Glance

Having a visual view of all your projects on a spreadsheet Kanban Board style is very useful to help keep you on top of everything.

Updating Project Plans

Review the daily Kanban Board at the end of the day. Update your projects plans with the final project activity notes for the day. Updating your project plans throughout day to keep it fresh is good, but there are days that it's better left untouched till the dust settles at the end of the day.

Sample Kanban Board Spreadsheet

This is an actual snapshot of my Kanban Board spreadsheet that I use. You need to enlarge it to see it better. 

(Note - this article was originally written by Drake Settsu and published on projectmanagement.com/blogs/419316/Project-Management-in-Real-Life in May 2018)

Reflections on the Golden Lagoon

Just another beautiful July summer evening in Hawaii. Two visitors taking in the peaceful serenity of the lagoon.

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku Lagoon @ Hilton Hawaiian Village

Project Management the Kaizen way

Today's Project Manager is faced with many challenges to deliver projects on time within the budget. They need to work smart with so much responsibility on their shoulders. Do they have time to get involved in continuous improvement? Yes.

The open minded Project Manager can use Kaizen to bring additional value to Project Management. What is Kaizen? It is a Japanese word. KAI = CHANGE and ZEN = GOOD, so Kaizen =  continuous improvement. Never be satisfied with a process or procedure. Always be on the lookout for opportunities to make improvements, whether it's a suggestions for the organization or the way you manage your projects. Make changes with an incremental approach to gradually yield results immediately rather than going for it all at one time. Just keep your goals on the radar and be patient while you work towards the goals. Quality outcomes is the reward.

Goals have been achieved, but we are never done with continuous improvement. There is always opportunities to make something better. Never be satisfied, always be hungry to make something better one day at a time. Project Managers get a good view of what is going on in the organization, so they need to speak up when they see something that could be improved and they also need to keep tuning their tools of the trade to operate efficiently.

(Note - this article was originally written by Drake Settsu and published on projectmanagement.com/blogs/419316/Project-Management-in-Real-Life in June 2018)

Waterfall or Agile, that is the Question

The dilemma of Waterfall or Agile.

Organizations should never declare that they are leaving Waterfall to be a full Agile organization. In defense of Agile you can't remain only on Waterfall. The problem is the lack of education and false perception. Education will help to get everyone on the same page. It's all about having clarity in the perception of Waterfall and Agile.

I can't make up my mind so let's flip a coin.

Waterfall is here to stay and it needs to play nicely with Agile. Opposites attract. Agile and Waterfall make a nice hybrid. The rule of thumb is to use what will work best to deliver project results. Did a stakeholder or sponsor ever ask you what approach did you use on the project? I don't think so. The stakeholder or sponsor could care less. It's all about guiding the team efficiently through the project to make happy stakeholders and sponsors with a project delivered on-time.

The Waterfall-Agile hybrid marriage.

The ship needs to raise the anchor and leave the harbor to make it to it's port of call on time. Many projects still follow a linear path to the finish line, but they have requirements not fully designed or approved. With tight deadlines you can't wait till the requirements dust settles to start the project. Use the approved requirements that you have to create a project plan timeline. Mark the the areas in the project plan timeline that are still waiting for the requirements dust to settle with a "Under Construction - Come Back Later" notation, hint hint, that is an example of Agile in the plan. The Project Manager is the Captain of the ship that will use his/her discretion to direct the team aka the crew on what needs to be done. The project plan timeline is the map to the destination.

They love colors, stats, and no budget variance.

The Project Sponsor is not interested in a dog and pony show. Using Waterfall in the plan will help give the sponsors that warm and fuzzy simple report card. What is the color of the project via Stoplight reporting along with the current project completion percentage. Hey look Mom no budget variance to report.

(Note - this article was originally written by Drake Settsu and published on projectmanagement.com/blogs/419316/Project-Management-in-Real-Life in May 2018)

Dinner with a view

It's spring time in Hawaii so pick up a meal and head over to a park. Try to find a nice spot with a view to enjoy your delicious meal.

Magic Island - Oahu

Do we need a Project Management Office aka The PMO

The main reason PMO's are not setup is the time and investment it takes to set it up right. The current focus is get the project done now. With that type of approach you are exposed to potential problems as soon as you start the project. The PMO might be looked at like a guardian watching over us and slowing us down with red tape. 

A PMO is a big investment that takes time to evolve into the right tailored fit that meets the companies needs. A PMO will alway's be a work in progress that needs to be continually tuned to maintain it's value. The company will achieve a ROI by delivering projects on-time and controlling the project budget and scope. Management buy in and patience is required to setup your PMO. Be willing to suffer growing pains along the way it will be worth it in the end. Management will have a "Stop Light Report" showing the status of all the projects being worked on in the company using green, yellow and red to indicate the health of the project with a brief summary of the progress being made.

Start slow using the "Project Management Body of Knowledge aka PMBOK" the book of standards to guide you on managing projects. Review all your current processes and standards. Get together with all the Project Managers to agree upon a standard to be followed by everyone. Just think if you have no PMO and three Project Managers you will have three methods on running a project. It might work now, but as your projects get more complex you need to have all your project managers following a standard guideline allowing them some deviations. 

The goal is tracking your projects to deliver them on-time within the budget. Project Management is an Art and Science don't make it so complicated to implement in your company. Keep it simple and evolve with time so everyone can get onboard and not be frightened of it. 

What I look for in a Project Manager:

- Continually improving processes

- Willing to jump in and help

- Cool under pressure

- Keeping your word

- The Quarterback

- Never give up

- Approachable

- Dragon Slayer

- Learner for life

- Good listener

- Leadership

- Thick skin

- Charisma

- Follow up 

- Tenacity

- Teacher

- No Fear

- Humble

- Friend

I can add more, but I will stop here. You get the point I'm making.