Learning Solutions for Increased Project Performance

Welcome to Our February Issue

We thought we’d mix things up a little this month by not focusing on a single subject, but rather providing some tips, tricks and short articles about a variety of project management topics.

By the way, our “Secret Sale” is ending soon. For more information about great savings (up to 40%) on PMP Exam Prep self-paced and virtual study group courses, visit here. 

Included in this issue:

• Changes Coming to PMP Exam in August
• Project Management Q&A
• Surviving a Difficult Project
• Questions to Answer Before Forming Your Core Team
• Is Your Project’s Training Plan in Place?
• Making the Most of Team Talent
• PM Quick Tips

Next Issue: Problem Solving in Projects

If you’re not a regular subscriber, sign up for pmPractitioner today and be notified when next month’s issue is available!

pmPractitioner is published as a service to the project management community. Each issue provides practical project management solutions and tips adapted from a variety of business publications and resources.

Changes Coming to the PMP Exam in August 2011

In 2010, the Project Management Institute (PMI) made updates to the professional role of PMPs based on their latest Role Delineation Study (RDS).  While the new RDS does not affect the PMBOK Guide, there will be some changes made to the PMP credential examination, starting in August 2011.

What Does This Mean?

According to PMI, approximately 30% of the PMP exam content will change because the Professional and Social Responsibility content area will not be treated as a separate domain. Rather, it will be tested across all domains (initiating the project, planning the project, executing the project, monitoring and controlling the project, closing the project), adding another level of complexity to exam questions.

How Will It Affect PMP Candidates?

This leaves potential PMP candidates with a choice as to when to take the exam to gain their PMP certification. Some individuals will prefer not to risk the additional intricacy that will be reflected in the exam questions.  The last day to take the current PMP examination is 30 August 2011. Candidates who would like to take the current version of the examination should study for and schedule their examinations early to better ensure that they are able to obtain a test date before August 31, 2011. No extensions will be granted.

Helpful Links

More about the PMP Role Delineation Study

FAQ About Upcoming Changes from PMI

mScholar PMP Exam Prep Options

February Project Management Q&A

Test your project management knowledge with these questions or use them as an exercise to help prepare for your PMP certification exam.

1. Stakeholders can include functional managers, sponsors, senior execs, team members, vendors and others. These different groups and individuals exercise varying degrees of influence on the project’s scope, quality, schedule, and cost throughout the project. At which phase do your project stakeholders have the greatest influence?

2. The outputs for Report Performance are:

Answers appear at the end of the newsletter.

Surviving a Difficult Project

All projects have their challenges, even the “easy” ones. Sometimes, though, we’ll find ourselves embedded in a project that is a struggle from start to finish. The causes can be many: politics, poor resources, clashing personalities, waning support. To get through a “project from hell” successfully, it’s important to adopt a survivor mentality or you’ll find yourself crashing and burning before long.

Determine that you will:

• Learn and Grow Through Adversity: Try to always take effective action and make choices that convert negative experiences to learning.
• Take Ownership: Accept that you have the power of choice. Acknowledge stress and frustration but don’t get swallowed up in blame or finger pointing.
• Use Constructive Humor: See humor in the situation and in yourself. Recognize the lighter side to every situation without putting yourself or others down.
• Practice Conceptual Thinking: Think ahead to understand both near- and longer-term consequences of decisions and actions on yourself and others.
• Expect the Unexpected: Understand that life is highly flexible and avoid labels that impose idea restriction. Try to make unusual connections and be willing to experiment to solve a problem.

Adapted from Discovering the Spirit at Work, Action for Results, Inc., 2006

Questions to Answer Before Forming Your Core Team

When forming a core project team for a new project, it may help to ask yourself some of the following questions:

• Have I considered the ideal size for my team?
• Have I considered all the subject matter expertise and skills I need on my team?
• Have I considered what skills and strengths will complement my own to ensure a strong project management structure?
• Have I planned how to document the outputs from my team meetings?
• Have I identified organizations/other sources to obtain the right team members?
• Do I have an alternative plan for resourcing my team if I cannot get the “ideal” members?
• Do I have a plan to negotiate with functional managers for my team members?
• Have I estimated the time commitments I expect from team members?
• Have I considered the physical locations of my team members?
• Have I considered special “virtual team” methods?
• Do I need to consider specialized training for any of my team members?

Adapted from Collaborative Project Relationships, Action for Results, Inc., 2006

Is Your Project’s Training Plan in Place?

Projects often result in significant changes in the way work gets done within an organization. Training needs of the project team as well as impacted parties must be considered proactively in order to ensure timely planning, development and delivery of training prior to the roll-out of the project solution.

Training helps ensure that the right skills and knowledge exist within the project team and within the groups impacted by the project. It can be used to enhance existing skill sets, as well as to introduce new and relevant concepts, methods, and skills to be used.

The project’s training plan should be developed during the planning phase. Training delivered to the project team may take place during any phase of the project, whereas training for the impacted parties typically takes place during the implementation phase.

The project manager is responsible for ensuring that a training plan is created during the planning phase as appropriate. The actual task of developing the training plan may be assigned to a project team member.

From Action for Results, Inc.

Making the Most of Team Talent

Great project managers realize that it’s better to nurture individuality than ignore it. They are adept at spotting a glimpse of talent in someone and then repositioning him or her so that the talent is used to its best effect.

Talent is defined as a “marked, innate ability.” For instance, you could say that most accountants have a love of precision. If they don’t, it’s doubtful that they will excel in their chosen profession. A love of precision is not a skill. Nor is it knowledge. It is a talent.

Talent can be broken down into three basic categories: striving, thinking and relating:

• Striving Talents explain the why of a person. Why she is motivated to push just that little bit harder than others. Why he is intensely competitive or altruistic or both.
• Thinking Talents explain the how of a person. How he weighs alternatives. How she comes to her decisions. Whether he is a linear or strategic thinker.
• Relating Talents explain the who of a person. Whom she builds relationships with. Whom he confronts or ignores. Whether she trusts first or wants people to earn it.

A person’s combination of talents and the recurring behaviors they create, usually remain stable throughout their lives. The trick is to make the most of them.

Adapted from First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, Simon & Schuster

PM Tips & Ideas

Instant Messaging Rules
Instant messaging is a way of life at some companies. Although it can make project communication easier, it works best when used with a little consideration. Follow these simple rules for sending and receiving instant messages:

• Ask Permission: Before diving into a message, ask “Is this a good time?” Your inquiry will be appreciated.
• Respond Promptly: Instant messages should typically be used only for high priority items. So, if you’re available, provide an immediate response.

Adapted from Instant Messaging is Quick – Make it Polite Too, The Manager’s Intelligence Report. Lawrence Ragan Communications

Meeting Set-Up with a Purpose
Looking for a way to get the desired participation level at your next project meeting? It’s all in the seating arrangement.

• Theatre style: Chairs placed in straight rows with one or two aisles. Use to limit participation – best suited to large group presentations or announcements.
• Classroom style: Chairs are placed in rows, but with tables added. Use for training sessions where the trainer is the focal point.
• Square style: Chairs and tables are set up in a square with an open area in the middle. Use when you want team member participation.
• Boardroom style: Chairs are placed around an oblong conference table. Use when the meeting is serious and participation is important.

Adapted from First Team, David Dee

Clarify the Objectives of Coaching
For a coaching process to be successful, it’s important to have a shared understanding between the individuals of what will be discussed at each meeting and the expected outcomes.

At each meeting, explain its primary purpose and then clarify the specific objectives. For example, “There are three key steps in the new quality assurance process. I would like to make sure that you understand them before we finish today.”

Adapted from Guide to Performance Management, Action for Results, Inc., 2001

Watch Your Jargon
It is perfectly fine to use industry or company jargon when addressing people in your own organization. However, when you communicate with stakeholders outside of your industry, professional jargon can leave them confused. Be sensitive.

Adapted from The Lost Art of the Great Speech, Richard Dowis, AMACOM

Answers to February Q&A

1. The correct answer is ‘d’ (The initial phase – when the cost of changes is lowest).

Answer ‘c’ (development phase) is incorrect. It sounds good, and it is true that development is an early stage – but at early stages, cost of changes is lowest.

[Initiating], PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition, p. 17, Figure 2-2

2. The correct answer is ‘d’ (Performance reports, organizational process assets updates, change requests).

Answer ‘b’ is incorrect. Watch for questions that are inputs or outputs of another process or a mix and match of inputs and outputs.

[Monitoring & Controlling] PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition, p. 270