Risk Register (Project Team Members)

The Project Team Members is an important risk on a Risk Register, there are many other risks to add to the register, but my focus on this article is Team Members. 

Project Managers need to focus up front on the availability of team members for a project. The Risk Register should include team members working on different projects, especially concurrent projects. We often assign key staff to multiple projects which is fine if their key dates and implementation have breathing room for safe multitasking. 

The Risk Register will provide valuable insight into how your project team is spread out. The reprioritizing of project dates might be needed to address overallocated staff. It's good to know up front that you are working with overallocated staff so you know the potential risk that could be a showstopper.

Roll the dice or play it safe. Just make sure that management understands all the risks that are involved with overallocated staff.


(Note - this article was originally written by Drake Settsu and published on projectmanagement.com/blogs/419316/Project-Management-in-Real-Life in February 2019)

Budget Creep a Project Manager's Nightmare

Going over budget within the scope of a project can happen. You think you covered all the possibilities that could occur in the project. You submitted a budget with padding so you can avoid a budget overrun. You are now at the one third milestone in the project and your funds are being depleted faster than anticipated. How did I not see this happening?

Reporting any budget variances on a monthly Project Stop Light Report will expose your budget creep. You will see how your monthly expenditures keep going up for the project. That is your cue to stop the project and revisit the budget. Are the projected estimates accurate or grossly underestimated? The faith of the project is in jeopardy now. Will the project be shutdown or will additional funds be allocated for it? A big decision needs to be made based on an accurate big picture on what the new realistic funding will be to keep the project moving.  

Project Managers need to always keep an eye on the budget and raise the red flag when the project funds are depleting ahead of time. Avoid what I call Budget Creep.

The Project Management Office Dashboard

Project Portfolio Management (PPM) - Reporting

Having the ability to have real time status reporting of all the projects in the organization is a goal that the Project Management Office (PMO) should undertake. The reporting will be dashboards displayed in the PMO on a large LCD monitor. Project teams will be directed to update their tasks throughout the day to give the PMO the ability to have fresh data on their dashboards. There might be resistance if the teams update their status weekly. Just give it time and it will become part of the team's daily routine. To accomplish your reporting you will need a robust project management software that supports PPM.

The Live Dashboard

Hang a large LCD monitor in the PMO in a good location to be viewed. The dashboard will give you a glance at how all the projects are doing. Why wait for weekly, on request and monthly reports to find out good or bad news. Daily monitoring of a dashboard will ensure that projects are on track within the budget. Define various dashboard views of your project metrics to display throughout the day. A large visual view with the colors of Green, Yellow and Red to highlight important information will make an impact on how you monitor your project portfolio. Call it the Project Command Center Dashboard.

Sample Dashboard 

Big Brother is Watching

The main objectives for the PMO dashboards is budgets and project timelines. It's all about being proactive to address potential problems in the early stages. If a budget keeps increasing the project could go way over the approved budget. Missing milestones could be a resource issue. Just naming a few issues that you can detect on a well designed dashboard. Your dashboard is a work in progress. You should always look for ways to keep improving your dashboards with valuable metrics. 

Have a Meet and Greet 

Invite stakeholders, executive management, managers, project managers and project teams to see your dashboards in action on the big screen. Ask for feedback on how you can improve your dashboards reporting. Give it a try and drop me a note how it worked out for your organization. 

The High Risk Project

Project Management has been around from the beginning of time. Just think about the wonders of the world that have been built. A form of project management had to have been used to accomplish such feats. The Romans and Egyptians are examples of accomplishing amazing construction projects with only primitive tools and slaves. The use of slaves must have been ingrained into project teams through the years to joke about Project Managers being slave drivers.      

Fast forward to modern times. Project Management is a critical discipline to ensure successful delivery of projects on time within the budget. Projects are tied to a budget with a reasonable variance for the bumps in the road that could pop up. The bumps in the road are the project risks that should be identified and monitored all the time. The entire team needs to be onboard with open communication to immediately report any risks that are starting to materialize. If you stick your head in the sand and hope that the risk goes away without any mitigation, good luck, get your resume ready. 

The person overseaing the entire high profile project needs to be transparent, accessible and have integrity. Knowing when to say timeout takes guts when it's starting to look bad. Slapping on workarounds for deficiencies that eventually catch up with the project is just pure stupidity. Money and time are just wasted and your competency will questioned. 

Having an unrealistic attitude that we have put in many hours and spent big money on the project already so it's unstoppable because we are at the point of no return will not work in your favor. Any failing project can be shutdown to repurpose it or dismantle it to stop further financial loss. Repurpose or dismantling will come at a cost, but if you continue on with a poorly planned project that should have never gotten a green light to proceed, you better have deep pockets to keep funding that White Elephant. A lot of people will be outraged and at the same time relieved that bleeding will be stopped. 

It's all about gathering the required cost and time to complete a project on-time within the budget. Not an easy job for some projects, but it needs to be done properly without cutting corners to get an approval. That's the expectation you expect when you entrust a project team to embark on a major high risk project that is very expensive. 

Wrike Project Management - Part 2

Marketing requires a vision with a plan that a team executes. The results are success when everything comes together.

Wrike is a web based project management solution that Marketing professionals can use to ensure a successful campaign.

Test drive Wrike on a 30 day free trial to see if it meets the needs of your organization. Select a project that can be completed within 30 days that will exploit the capabilities of Wrike to draw a comprehensive conclusion that Wike is the right solution for your organization.

Wrike can be run from your web browser on your laptop or desktop. Stay connected with the Wrike mobile app for iOS devices or Android devices.

Project Managers and Educators under The Big Top

The two profession have something in common. They both are responsible to motivate individuals to complete tasks to achieve a deliverable. They both have limited authority over the individuals they are responsible for.

When you are in charge of a project you are borrowing staff from other managers to be part of your team. When you are an educator you are tasked with a mission to teach.

How do you achieve respect and control over individuals that you have no direct control over. It's up to you to set the ground rules in the beginning to show who is the master. It's like a Lion Tamer. You cannot show fear and you can't be over aggressive either. It's a delicate balance to gain true respect. It's a social game you have to play. If you come off as a jerk or too soft you will be eaten alive metaphorically.

Project Managers and Educators who feel they are qualified in their profession need to take a closer look at themselves. The two professions have a lot in common. They both need to have the ability to motivate people to achieve an accomplishment by dealing with resistance at times and getting back on track.

I have been using the blend in approach by not flaunting my limited position of authority. Grab everyone's attention early to get them onboard with you that we are all here to achieve an accomplishment. They all know I'm in charge. It's how you handle the people to make them comfortable with the goals you are guiding them to achieve. 

All the certifications and education does not make you a good project manager or educator. You need heart and soul. Ask yourself why you are in your chosen field. Do you have a passion to lead people to make an achievement because that's what it is all about. 

Life can be a circus at times. Who said it's a cakewalk to manage projects and teach? It's not for everyone. If your going to do it then put on a show and #MakeItCount

Wrike Project Management - Part 1

Wrike is your web based project management solution. Test drive Wrike on a 30 day free trial to see if it meets the needs of your organization. Select a project that can be completed within 30 days that will exploit the capabilities of Wrike to draw a comprehensive conclusion that Wike is the right solution for your organization.

Wrike can be run from your web browser on your laptop or desktop. Stay connected with the Wrike mobile app for iOS devices or Android devices.

Upon completion of the 30 day trial you can decide to purchase Wrike. Select the appropriate plan for your organization to purchase. If you decide not to purchase Wike you will still be able to use the 5 users license with limited capabilities free.

Signup now to get started: Wrike