From the Editor

Last month we made much of the need to truly understand what your customer wants from the project, and the difference between that and what they really need. But what about what your organization needs? This month we're shifting focus to the other end of the spectrum: understanding your organization's strategic goals and making sure your projects support them. This isn't an activity just for the executives. It's true that steering committees are usually composed mostly of upper management, but that doesn't mean they're the only ones who need to understand it. Knowing your organization's goals and strategies means you'll know which way to jump when confronted with day-to-day project decisions (as Kent McDonald illustrates well in his column this week).

Plus, as promised, we have an excerpt for you from the 3rd edition of the Dictionary of Project Management Terms. J. LeRoy Ward of ESI International has graciously excerpted some project management definitions from this essential project management reference and shared them with us, so if you've ever been curious about the details of Brooks's Law, but not curious enough to read a whole book on the subject, check it out.

Next issue we'll have some more detailed perspectives on how to determine your project's real value to the organization, along with a new template to help you build a business case for your IT projects.

Featured Article

In my spare time, I serve on the board of the Greater Iowa/South Dakota Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). I got involved with the organization about 8 years ago because I have a nephew who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, and it provides me an opportunity to give something back to the community while providing another outlet to practice my project management and leadership skills. I mention my involvement with JDRF because it provides an excellent example of how tying projects to strategy can make managing projects easier. It provides a clear picture of your end goal, and guiderails that help you make those day-to-day decisions on your projects.

In our local chapter, our strategy is centered on utilizing the most effective and efficient way to raise funds for research by establishing and maintaining strong relationships with our donors and volunteers. To accomplish this strategy we have three "projects" that we pursue on an annual basis. Because these projects are directly driven from our strategy, we are able to understand why we are doing them and clearly state what we are trying to accomplish. This is a powerful effect, because aside from a few staff members, the events are planned by teams of volunteers that are all motivated to make the events a success because we are all working toward the same goal—to raise money for funding research.

You can replicate this type of focused effort and motivation at your organization, with people paid to work on these projects, by identifying a similar tie to the organization's strategy. If you can identify what value the project adds to the business and communicate that clearly to the project team, chances are you will have a similarly motivated team. Read more »

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Project Practitioners Blog

Most people want to be needed, required and loved by others. You, as a project manager, must not forget that your work with human beings. I remember one project I managed in Spain for a software development organization. I had twenty five people in my team. At the beginning of the project we finished our work days very late. I was not leading by example. I did not respect myself, and I did not respect my people; that behavior stressed my team members. After five weeks of hard work, my team got frustrated and the team performance decreased dramatically. I looked for a solution, and I decided to finish the work every day at 6:00pm. My customer expected us spending long days working for the project. I talked to him and explained two key things: first that we were working very long journeys without making good progress, and second for achieving project success it is important to have people committed and motivated."

Alfonso Bucero reminds us to treat all our team members with respect, starting with ourselves. His previous post lists 12 characteristics of successful project managers.

Margaret de Haan has some practical suggestions for managing project teams stuck with reduced staff, but no changes in workload.

Matt Glei explains the appeal of use case techniques and asks how they've helped or undermined your projects.

New blogger Nova Rose discusses the importance of measuring project success beyond the iron triangle.

Ann Drinkwater challenges us to document project roles sooner rather than later, and explains why.

Sinikka Waugh says "I told you so" as often, and as constructively, as possible, and illustrates how you can do so too.

Niel Nickolaisen encourages us to cut through the hype (pro and con) and consider pragmatic Six Sigma.

Where's ProjectConnections?

Randy Englund and Bob Lauridsen will be "Powering Up Your Interaction Quotient" (powerinteract.englundpmc.com) on April 10th for the PMI San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (www.pmi-sfbac.org). Next week, Randy is teaching "Project Management Negotiation Principles and Techniques" at UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley (courses.ucsc-extension.edu). May will find him teaching the "Project Management Office" course at UCSC Extension, and in Amsterdam to present at the PMI Global Congress.

Kimberly Wiefling is in Osaka, Japan next week for the Pharma Global Leadership Program. She'll be back there in May for another round, then on to Tokyo for a client session there. We hear her Japanese is becoming quite passable. She has certainly had time to practice it!

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