Welcome to the PMadvice Blog - Ian Tomkins

Wednesday 30th January

Real Team Power

One thing that never fails to impress me in every project I am involved in is the progress a well managed team can achieve.  There are a number of key factors to get in place before the team can really kick into gear, they are clear direction, everyone understanding what the goal is, the objective, and that’s not just the end objective, but more importantly the objective this week and every week.  You need every individual in the team clear in their objective this week and every week, often the end objective can seem way to challenging, but what needs to be achieved this week is far more palatable.

The other factors are the correct skills to achieve these objectives, don’t underestimate this element, don’t kid yourself that an individual or 3rd party that is nearly good enough will do, it won’t, the correct skills aimed in the correct direction with a clear objective is key to success.  For the individual this will make a significant difference to their ability to progress, for a team this makes a massive difference, that’s when you get real Team Power. That’s when you see a team’s moral rise and the team pull together.

You’re only as good as the weakest link, well in a team a weak link can have a significant impact on the teams progress.  The higher up the food chain, so to speak, that weakness is the greater the impact.  So a weak Analyst will have less impact than a weak Project Manager who will significantly damage a projects progress, a weak Programme Manager will damage a Programmes progress and a weak Group or Board will impact the progress of entire department.  Team Power is not just about the small teams either, it’s about the bigger, wider team having clear direction and objectives, from grunt to director.

I have been lucky enough to be part of a number of very big companywide programmes, one when the team size was over 200 and another where the team size was over 150.  In both case I was able to get the whole team working with clear direction, the end result was amazing, in both cases over ten years later the individuals still speak about how amazing the experience was.  As I say in my book "PMadvice", we want everyone to enjoy the team experience.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - @ 21:13

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Thursday 27th January

Do the Maths, Stupid!

One thing that continues to amaze me is how IT continues to fail to learn from its mistakes. We, and I mean we, as in the Business and IT fail again and again to deliver projects on time and to budget, yet we continue to fail to learn from this and act to correct it. £millions is wasted every week on projects being poorly managed.

Why is this, well to be honest I cannot work it out. What makes managers think that when you do a detailed project plan, that it can then be cut in half and delivered to a completely different time frame. If there are 1000 days work in the plan and 10 people, the sums say a minimum of 100 days duration, due to sequencing its likely to be 200 days, due to issues 250 days.

So, why do we then say, but the business needs it to go live in 80 days so thats the end date. Without going of like a bloody firework on this issue I don't give a dam if its needed in 80 days, its not bloody possible, so it wont bloody happen. So now get real and re-position the business to a date thats achievable and realistic. It is not an efficient use of resource, time and money stick your head in the sand and to work to an unrealistic date, it will take even longer than the original detailed plan that was ignored, as the compressed plan will suffer due to poor performance throughout the project.

Finally, while i'm on my soap box, what makes you also think you can deliver projects with untrained Project Managers. An untrained, unskilled Project manager who is inefficient will make the 20 people below them inefficient, so do the maths, come on, train your PMs for heavens sake.

I could be a £millionaire if I only got £1 for every day a project was late, yes just £1.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - @ 21:13

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Friday 31st December

The Most Common 2010 Issue

Well another year rushes by and I thought it would be a good idea to consider what the most common Project Management failing was across all the clients I have worked with in 2010. It didn’t come as a surprise to me, but I think it will to you!

The single most common failing is ..... drum roll...... "Not Applying the Basics".

I would say that every programme and project I have worked with, consulted on, rescued this year has failed to apply the very basic Project Management principles. The reason why this is the case, pressure from management to work to unrealistic dates, plans imposed on projects that have been thrown together with no substance behind them.

The single key failing in this area is poor quality Project reporting. Reports that vary from being unclear, to incorrect, to blatant miss reporting of the facts. Topped of by the most common reporting error of all, Project Managers and Programme Managers looking week after week for reasons to report “Green”, instead of reasons to report “Red”.

So, if I was to give you all a New Year Message, it would be;

"Apply the Project Management Basics, Rigorously. No ifs, No buts, No maybe, no half measures"

Happy New Year to you all, from myself and PMadvice.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - @ 13:13

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Wednesday 4th, June

R&R, No Not Rest and Recuperation

In life and in Project Management you need two types of R&R, the first being to give the team chance for Rest and Recuperation, you need your team to be healthy and strong if you want them to work hard when the pressure is on and a little overtime is required.

But there is another R&R that I expect every member of the team to apply every day.  That's Respect and Responsibility.  You must always show respect to your colleagues and always take responsibility for your actions and those of your team.  If you don't respect your team and colleagues they wont respect you, if you dont take responsibility for your actions, they won't for theirs.

In taking responsibility for their actions they will think twice before make key decisions, usually driving out any issues ensuring the correct decision is made or making them question if they should run the decision past you first.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - @ 23:05

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Wednesday 4th, June
 
IoM TT and Project Management

Well I love the Isle of Mann TT motorcycle race, it’s the panicle of motorcycle racing, it puts GP racing in the shade, for those that don’t know, GP racing is on a circuit, you cover about 50miles, hit about 150mph and have plenty of room for error. TT racing is flat out for 230miles, hitting about 205mph on normal roads, if you get it wrong its game over, its totally amazing, watch it this week on ITV4.

Anyway, back on track, I wanted to think of an analogy between the TT and Project Management and concluded that it’s the aspect of being on the edge. Sounds a little far fetched I know, but its true. If a project is planned well and working at the limit the RAG status should sit in AMBER for most of the projects life, this shows that you are pushing, but not at breaking point, neither are you and your team coasting. So, even though your not in a life and death scenario, your project should be running on the edge, and your boss should not be too upset to see you in AMBER status most of the time.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - @ 22:09

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Friday 7th, May
 
Limited Control, Limited Progress

Well the title says it all, if you have limited control of your project you will make limited progress. The organisation I am working with right now is suffering from this. They have the skills, the tools, the commitment, the money and the ability, but lack the management controls to pull it all together.

They are very professional and can’t be accused of not being committed to what they do but their lack of management control and the fact that they are growing at a significant rate makes addressing this issue all the more challenging.

This organisation has yet to experience the difference that quality Project Management can bring to a programme of work. But, the good thing is that they are sharp enough to realise that they are missing something, and after speaking to some colleagues, have spotted that its Project Management, its control, its experience of managing large programmes of work. So, I am now working with them to get them on track, excited, yes I am. Its rare for a large organisation to be open to enough to ask and listen.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - @ 15:41

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Wednesday 28th, April
 
Motivation is Key

Motivation is key to the successful, on time, delivery of any project. I have always gone out of my way to ensure my team was highly motivated, happy, working well and this included both in and outside work. If you work with people for a while you should quickly spot when a team member is not happy and you should understand the reason, if its work related act to address it, if its external and personal do what you can to support them. You should not under estimate how important this is, especially when a project gets busy and the pressure builds.

A company I recently visited has a poor reputation for looking after its staff, their projects are always late, by many months, not days. I took 5 minutes to look around the building and noticed two interesting things, both really surprised me, I stopped and stared for what seemed like an age. I was staring at the companies sports trophy cabinet and entertainments notice board, these both took pride of place in reception, there were 20 trophies in the cabinet… to my horror I read the dates. This company was taken over in 2004 and there wasn’t a trophy in the cabinet dated after 2004, the entertainments board had various posters advertising events in the area, these to were all dated 2004. Six long years and still nobody is interested in staff moral or even noticed the cabinet or board and what it says about the company.

Its very sad when a big corporate machine takes over a company and rips its heart out and mentally beats its staff to work every hour god sends, with no real thought for the individuals or what real improves productivity.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - @ 15:19

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Wednesday 21st, April
 
The Art of Planning.

I am often asked how do you create a robust plan, a plan that can stand up to scrutiny, that you can be confident can be delivered, but doesn’t have tasks with exaggerated durations, but still have contingency. Well its simple, I am not trying to be cocky, but it really is, I will explain.

What you have to do is, firstly speak to the resource that is going to do the work and get their estimate for each task and interrogate them to make sure that they have thought through the task thoroughly. Secondly consider what task can run in parallel or at least overlap. Thirdly consider how long reviews and amendments will take and add those tasks into your plan.

Now for the piece-de-la-resistance add in the “lag”, lag is the time you allow between tasks for people to respond, resources to prepare, resource to get started, this is often only a day or so, but throughout a big plan this can really add up to a comfortable amount if contingency. I have used this method for years and the end result is 90% of projects completed on time and to plan. So, there you go, get planning and feel confident that nobody can say your plans are unrealistic or unfounded.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - at 15:50

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Monday 19th, April
 
Man.., it’s the root of all Evil!

If communication is poor, it definitely is the root of all evil. But, if its good, it is like the roots of a small tree, sturdy and promising, ok are we after good then? No we are after excellent, if its excellent, accurate, factual it is like the roots of a great oak and will drive the delivery of something very special indeed.

What are the key points in good communication, well first and foremost is accuracy, how factual the communication is, secondly the level of detail, its important to provide that right amount of detail to the appropriate audience otherwise the communication will not be made, the information will not be transferred.

So, make sure your reporting is accurate, factual, open and honest and that this highly valuable information is presented cleanly and neatly not hidden in 500 lines of … well … babble. Oh, and when I say honest, I really mean honest, warts and all, good news and bad news, no hiding the bad news. If you don’t tell people you have problems you won’t get any help, without help the bad news will just keep on coming, so be warned.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - at 16:37

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Thursday 8th, April
 
It Worked for the Bible.

For many years now I have wondered how the Bible became such a powerful book, how it controlled so many people, how it guided the creation of many civilisations, ok it caused the death of many millions of people along the way, but hay we will brush over that for now.

Well I will tell you where its power came from and why its power has dwindled. The main reason the Bible was able to accomplish these incredible feats was down to two key points, the first is that it used the written word, not a surprise you may think, but the second key point is that, at that time very few people could read. This meant that those who could read, and claimed to understand the Bible held the power. They held the power and the knowledge to say what was right, what was wrong and what direction should be taken and nobody could question them.

This same principle applies in Programme and Project Management, as a Manager you must read and understand the documentation presented to you, I always try to make time to do this, even if it’s a technical document or detailed business process, you need to gain the knowledge to be able to hold the power to say what is right, what is wrong and what direction should be taken. If you don’t have the time, find a member of your team who does and get them to summarise the content to you, but remember that they now have the detailed knowledge, not you, and you may need to rely on them to provide the direction and answers in that particular area. … Amen.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - at 12:05

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Thursday 1st, April
 
Push, Push ... and SNAP!
 
I work with so many programmes and projects that run to tight deadlines and suffer from mistakes that cost the programme days even weeks of delays. Why is it so hard for managers to understand that constant over working of staff will result in mistakes, in re-work, in lost time due to having to fix the mistakes. Management must recognise that driving staff to do excessive hours only works for short a period, in my experience, about two weeks, then mistakes start happening that cost more time than that perceived to be saved by pushing on.

So, remember as a professional project manager, you are only as good as the team around you, so it is your job to manage their hours to avoid over working and the impact of mistakes. This month I have witnessed a massive push to hit a, made up, deadline that has resulted in mistakes and problems causing over 3 weeks worth of delays. Added to this is the personal impact on each individual that will last longer, as sickness lost further time and damaged personal relationships outside the office are also damaged.

Remember a happy team, works far more effectively than an unhappy worn out team.
 
Posted by Ian Tomkins - at 15:30
 
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Friday 26th, March
 
Biting Off More Than You Can Chew!
 
Biting off more than you can chew. Well this week I have witnessed yet again experianced Programme Managers being over keen and biting off more than they can handle, the end result being delays to all areas of the programme as already overworked teams had more work dumped on them.

It’s a common mistake for both Project and Programme Managers to agree, or even volunteer, to take on work that was out of their scope in an endeavour to ensure their project or programme meets a deadline. It is so easy to think that if you pick up the work of others, work that is delaying your project that you will then deliver everything on time, well more often than not this is a misconception. It is more often the down fall off the entire project as your team then struggles with their work and the work of others.

So what do you do, well there are a number of key points to make. Firstly, why has another team fallen behind, likely because the work is greater than previously thought or its technically difficult, secondly, why do you think you can deliver it, do you really have the skills, the spare resources and the capacity, do you really understand what you are taking on.

What you should do is, firstly monitor all internal and external dependencies and call out any that are falling behind, ensure you understand and highlight the impact this will have on your work. Do this regularly, increasing the communication and emphasizing the importance as time progresses, this will drive other managers and controlling bodies to assist the flagging project to ensure it catches up.

Never offer to assist another team or pick up the work of others unless you are 150% sure that you can delivery it without impacting your own deliverables. Remember, in the PMadvice book it says “You are not a Miracle worker”.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - at 15:28

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Friday, 19th March
 
Are you Really Open to Change?

Are you really, seriously interested in managing projects more affectively, in getting the project delivered in the most affective way. Well we find few that are, they talk to the talk, roll out the buzz words about always looking to gain efficiency, but very rarely are they willing to walk to walk. One such aspect of PMadvice project management approach is how people work, how they carry out the tasks required when delivering a project.

At PMadvice we teach flexible working, and no that’s not come in when you fancy, leave when its busy, hitting core hours of 11 to 4. No, that rarely supports the delivery of the project. PMadvice approach to flexible working is you work when there is work to do and don’t when there isn’t, this shock 99% of organisations, they insist there is always something to do, so no you can’t go home and when we have loads to do you better stay late and work weekends.

The PMadvice approach may seem simple, but few are prepared to support it, but the benefits are huge when it comes to getting the work done and the resources you need onsite when you need them. How does it work, its simple, the project managers job is to keep you busy, but in all projects the resource profile has slack times and very busy times, so when its slack send the troops home to rest, have some family time, because as we all know it wont be long before the hours ramp up and people are working late and weekends. The difference in this approach is that the resource are more than happy to be in the office working when the hours are long, they feel they owe it to you and the project.

So the end result is a happy team, an effective team, a devoted team, a professional team and a project delivered on time.

Posted by Ian Tomkins - at 13:37

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Friday, 9th March

Climate is Looking Better.

Climate is looking better, well the business climate anyway. We are seeing more interest in training than in the previous 6 months, but when will business ever understand the true benefit of training, and when I say training, I mean real training, face to face, good solid class room training, ideally with mentoring to follow.

Nothing beats real face to face training, when you need to explain something in detail, something complex, something that needs a bit of explaining, do you pick up the phone, do you knock up a quick email, jot it down on a post it note or record a 2 minute message and hope they understand, NO. You get off your butt and go and see the person face to face, talk it through, do some diagrams send them away with notes etc, only then you are confident they have it, they will resolve the issue.

So, why the hell do people really think that when you need to train somebody in the art, yes art, of project management that a CBT, some notes or a 2 minute recording will do the trick, god help me! Face to face training and face to face communication has been at the heart of all great achievements, so why is IT Training any different, it dam well isn’t.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 12:57

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Monday, 26 January

So Where Do You Stand In This Crunch?

Well PMadvice is on track to release another great course in February, our new Software Testing course will teach even the experienced tester a thing or two, and once again it will be an Online Internet based course allowing anyone in the world with an internet connection and a PC to take the course. Our Business Analysis Course will be ready in March, so watch this space budding Analysts for your chance to fast track your career with an injection of vital skills and hard earned experience.

So, where does everyone stand in this crunch, well we are finding that some companies are cutting staff, but many are realizing that with less resources they need better performance, and our online training courses are well within everyone’s budgets be they an individual, contractor, small or large company and don’t think low cost means poor quality because in our case that could not be further from the truth. Our costs are low because our business is international, when your audience is many millions of people your price point can be set low as our overheads to delivery each online course are low, much lower than face to face.

So, we are busy working on the next two courses, and after that, what courses are next. Well, we have to directions to go in, firstly to grow the portfolio of courses, secondly to allow deprived countries to access the courses, so we will be starting talks with the governments of some of the less fortunate countries to negotiate special discounts for those less fortunate, this is something I am very excited about.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 0936

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Monday, 16 January

Skills, Knowledge, Experience over Methodologies Any Day!

We already know that the world has gone mad, but still it drives me to distraction the amount of time, money and effort being spent by organizations and individuals on training in methodologies, what a waste. I have never seen anyone get a job because they have Prince2 for instance, they get the job because of there currently skills and past experience. So, when will they stop wasting the money on courses that teach you nothing useful towards delivering projects on time and on budget, and start spending money of training courses that will teach you how to plan a project and manage a project to a successful on time, on budget delivery.

For example on a Prince2 course you will be told that you need a Project Board, a Senior User, Project Definition document etc. You wont be told that you need to allow several weeks lead time for the ordering and delivery of computer hardware or network communications, that you need to ensure that you allow more time in your plan on early tasks for resources that have just undergone training to get up to speed or that you need to accrue budget and how to accrue budget spend, I could give you a hundred more such examples.

So, how long are we going to have to wait, how many projects and programmes are going to run £millions over budget before organizations and individuals start spending money on training that will genuinely teach and guide people to delivery projects on time and on budget.

Blimey it’s a bit high on this soap box, I will get down now!

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 16:19

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Tuesday, 10 January

Sales Good, Online Planning Course is Launched

Well Happy New Year to all. Its been a very busy holiday here at PMadvice, with the launch of the new Online Internet based Project Management Course, sales have been great, we are very please. So, over the holiday we converted the face Planning Course onto the new Online Internet based format and that has gone on sale this week, we are very please with the content, both written, screen capture and over 12 flash videos to show you “how to”… well just about do everything, and again the price is very competitive at £45.00 for a one month registration and the option to by the PMadvice Book at a discounted price of £25.00.

The feedback from customers has been very pleasing, examples being “That’s amazing…. You get the full course, access from anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, screen captures, flash video and a the PMadvice Book FREE, that is great, I will register later” and he did. We even posted his book to Israel for him with the label in Hebrew, we aim to please.

What is next, well we are working on converting the Software Testing Course to Online Internet based and due to popular demand our Business Analysis Course is also being converted to Online Internet based also. So, yes we are rather busy, working hard to stay ahead of the game.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 15:42

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Friday, 19 December

Online Course With Video Capture and Flash

PMadvice have purchased some new software this week to further enhance our online courses, the new software will allow wider use of Video Capture and Flash Tutorials, making the courses even more interactive and user friendly. We will be working hard over the holiday period to learn the strengths of the new product and start redesigning aspects of our new courses to benefit from the functionality next year.

We are also launching two new courses next year a ‘Planning Course’ and a ‘Testing Course’, these two courses will be far more detailed than our previous courses with greater use of Video Capture and Flash.   The new courses will also include a FREE copy of the highly recommended PMadvice Book (http://www.PMadvice.co.uk/buy_book.asp)

Our website traffic continues to stay high, with 92% Discount being offered on the Online IT Project Management Course its not surprising really. The holiday period is a great time to take advantage of these course rates, its often a quiet time at work and great to start the New Year with some new skills. With the current climate being less than positive any increase in skills is going to make you more desirable to employ.

Well, I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a great Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

As for me, my Marathon training will re-start in January with a training weekend with the GB Team Coaches, it will be nice to shake off the sickness and colds and get out pounding the road again.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 15:10

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Monday, 8 December
FREE PMadvice Book with each Online Course

PMadvice have shot out of the gate with all guns blazing with the new Online Internet based training courses. I could not be happier with the responses received so far from the first early takers; our website traffic has literally doubled over night, which is fantastic news. So, what next, well we are working with two partners, one in New Zealand and one in South Africa to work to open up those market places, I must say that I am really enjoying the challenges this move has presented and the positive progress we continue to make.

I will be speaking to some local partners this week, local I say with a smile, local used mean 10 miles down the road, now local means Europe what a small world we are now working in. We will continue to enhance the course offering next year, but for now the main Online IT Project Management Course, which includes full project life cycle, management skills, planning, testing, design, implementation and much more will be our key focus.

I am still hoping to get sometime over December and January to progress the Podcast of the PMadvice book “PMadvice – Training and Coaching IT Programme and Project Managers” (http://www.PMadvice.co.uk), this is proving more time consuming than first thought, with studio time required, editing work and re-work and reviews. But, I am sure it will be worth it as we can use the material in the online training courses as well.

As for me personally, my Marathon training has taken a back seat while I recover from sickness and the big push this month launching the online training, I fear my marathon training will not get going again until January, so a Sub 3hr Time will be very tough.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 10:50

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Monday, 12 December
92% Discount on Online Courses

 

92% cheaper than our Face to Face course and still incredibly affective delivery, I could not believe it, I hoped the new Online Internet based training proposition could be delivered in a more cost affective manner, but I never thought we could drive the price down to this. Well what a week it’s been, the team has done an amazing job converting all the face to face course material to online internet based courses. We hoped to have this done ready to launch in Q1 2009, but the guys have come in over a month early, fantastic work and excellent project management, of course.

We have worked hard on evaluating the propositional price for this new course format and we are pleased to be able to announce a massive 92% discount from the face to face courses, you get the same content, with more comprehensive assessments, at an incredible discount. We are also able to offer the courses world wide, 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, with no restriction on our ability to deliver the courses and each course includes the highly recommended PMadvice book (http://www.trafford.com/07-2722 or http://www.pmadvice.co.uk/buy_book.asp).

So, we have launching the new online courses today and you get even more for your money, where before we had separate courses for IT Project Management, Planning, Testing and Business Readiness you now get all these courses in on package with the Online offering, for you to work through at your leisure, from work, home or anywhere with an internet connection.

Here at PMadvice we have always said that there is no excuse for not delivering projects on time and on budget, now there really is no excuse, the course is excellent value for money and available worldwide.

Excited about the launch, you bet we are.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 10:50

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Friday, 20 November
Online v Face to Face!

Well a busy week migrating our face to face course content to the new internet based online course service we will launch in Jan 2009. It’s been very interesting, not just moving the content, but seeing just how flexible the course material is in adapting to the online proposition. I was also very pleased to see the flexibility in the new online proposition which is enabling us to add value to the courses by way of a huge bank of questions for the assessment part each of the courses.

I have always believed face to face training to be leagues ahead of CBT and Online based training, but I am becoming a convert as I witness the flexibility in the proposition we are implementing, some of the key features include a huge questions database to feed the online assessments, the random selection of questions from the database so any re-takes of the assessments present different questions, the ability to use flash, video and audio to explain difficult aspects, its truly amazing and generates a whole new delivery method for training with great flexibility.

All this, along with the massive positive of being able to train people anywhere in the world and any number of people concurrently is very exciting. I have always wanted to spread the word, pass on the knowledge I have gained over 20 years in IT, writing and publishing my book was the first step (http://www.trafford.com/07-2722), now driving these brilliant courses online will be the next.

Then to end my week an email from a colleague telling me that various members of his staff had purchased my book and were raving about the quality, that they had read it from cover to cover, all good news.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 14:39

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Friday, 14 November
Recession, the Fast Way In and Out!

Well, many of us may have been here before, the highs and lows of business. But, the highs are higher and the lows lower, so how can we stop this process or at least reduce the impact and restore business confidence quicker. Well, PMadvice are learning from the past and thinking fast, we have seen the highs and lows before and have spotted a trend that makes the highs and lows worse.

Want to know the secret, read on…. Its simple but not obvious, as the recession starts to present its self we all head into denial, we don’t want a business recession, so we ignore it dragging the process out even longer, until we witness others starting to fall, then we watch and wait to see if its going to hit our industry sector, all this denial slows the process and does nothing to aid faster recovery.

Alright, now what, well the answer is stop waiting for the recession to hit you, it will, the question is by how much, start acting like it already has, start trimming the sails, reducing overheads, controlling cost and stop taking unjustified risks. Then what…. Well start to adjust your product offering to delivery a more cost affective solution, don’t try to force your products to a market that’s not buying, adjust your offering to market that is buying now, don’t wait.

For PMadvice this means taking are face to face training to the internet, even though we know face to face training works far better than internet based training, its not what the customer wants or can afford right now. So, we will be launching all our face to face training products online in Q1 2009, our products will support all budgets big and small, you will get value for money across the entire product range, from those who want and can afford online training to those who still believe in face to face, high impact training.

As for you, think about your business; don’t wait to be in a recession, think what you would do if you were in the recession right now and do it now. How would you adjust your product offering to meet the changes in the market, what are people buying and what do they want, not what do you want to sell. Start to climb out of recession now, not when some analyst tells you to!

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 09:13

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Friday, 7 November

Voted, Most Read Article of the Week By PPMNG.

Delivering Projects On Time!

I have been working in IT for over 20 years and in this time I have seen more projects miss deadlines than hit them, no surprise I hear you say. But, that’s the issue, it should be a surprise, it is all to easy to take it for granted that projects will be late and over budget. This has got to chang, and who’s going to change it, well YOU, you’re the project manager aren’t you?

Personally I have a track record to be proud of, I have delivered more projects on time and to budget than not, why, the key reason, because I care about my reputation, I care about my own dignity, if I say it will happen… then it will happen. Julius Caesar marched his entire army on Rome, not to take the city, but purely to restore his personal dignity, his soldiers marched with him, willingly, because they respected him has a true leader. How far would you go to ensure your project is successful, to ensure your team respects you and gives 110% when you need it, to ensure that your dignity and theirs remains untarnished and their reputation positively grows.

When I plan a project I look into every known and potential risk and issue, I gather information, I question people about every aspect, I ask searching question, like “can you see any possible issues that may delay your work, hold you up, slow you down”, I ask the workers on the shop floor, the people who will really create the output “are you happy with the plan and proposed dates”, “does the plan look achievable”, “what problems have you encountered in the past”. I listen to their concerns and I act on the information, I don’t just pay lip service to their comments. You document the information and feedback, you adjust the plan and you have the supporting evidence for such changes to the plan and dates. You work with facts and you stand your ground with senior management when the dates are challenged.

Then… you go pro-active crazy, you manage your teams closely, you speak to people daily and weekly, face to face, you treat every delay as a potential end game failure to the project and you recover lost time and delays immediately, ensuring you stay on track, weekly and monthly milestones are meet, every week…. and I mean every week. You look after your team, you praise your staff, you support them, nurture them and grow them, without them you are nothing, without them you will fail to deliver the project.

You must be flexible, flexibility is key to the overall success of every project I have delivered. I say to my teams that I expect them to be there working when ever I need to be, and not when I don’t. This means that when the work is slow, you allow people to take time off, when work is busy and long hours are needed you expect them to be there. I have applied this approach to every project I have managed with significant success, my teams are always there when I need them, they are always willing to put in the long hours, to give 110% when I need them, I usually have to monitor them for burn out, as they become so committed to delivering the project on time I have to send them home to rest, not beg them to stay.

If you want to deliver projects on time ask yourself a few basic questions, is the plan realistic, does the plan include everything that needs to be done, are the timings accurate, is there a reasonable level of contingency, are your staff onboard, are senior management onboard, are they ready to start, do they respect you, will they give you 110% when you need it, do all your staff understand the total commitment you are expecting to hit the deadlines.

Finally, at the end, when you have finished, and the project is complete, the deadlines have been hit, your project is a shining success. You party and mean really party, I have paid for many a party out of my own pocket to thank a team for total commitment. The end result being, a project delivered on time, a team that is proud of themselves and of you and a team that wants to work for you again!

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 09:29

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Wednesday, 31 October
Looking Up... the Wrong Way!

The IT Industry is heading into an all time low regarding the management of IT Projects. We are seeing company after company with the same problem, mostly big corporates, run by career hungry, promotion hungry managers, not a bad thing you may think.  Well, its a very bad thing for the companies concerned because while all these budding managers and senior managers are looking up not down, the IT Projects spiral out of control £Millions going down the drain on failed plans, missed milestones with projects arriving late or not at all.

Lets explain, the managers and senior managers are all looking up to their superior and asking themselves the same questions, what would make my boss happy, what would my boss like to hear, what would my boss like to see, hit all these buttons and I get a bonus and promotion. The problem is that in the real world you don't always have good news to give, nice things to say, positive progress to report, but if you want that bonus and promotion they write, report and say what the boss wants to hear. That's whats happening, inaccurate reporting, incomplete information, hiding and ignoring issues, reporting what will guarantee the bonus and promotion.

This is all getting out of hand, we are seeing more and more Programmes and Projects months and years behind schedule, but reports say "On Track, On Schedule", at first they are happy to hide a little bad news, and little more each week, 2 days behind, 2 weeks behind, 2 months behind, then later they are terrified of admitting, 3 months, 4 months and 6 months behind schedule. So, then the programme is well and truly beyond recovery and nobody dare come clean with the truth.

What should we do, manage down not up, companies are driven from the top. The IT Director should be asking for proof of progress, seeing for themselves, checking the status, and in turn the Senior Managers should be asking their Programme Managers and Programme Managers asking their Project Managers, not for the report that is closer to fiction than Shakespeare, but for proof, hard facts that prove the position. If you stop doing the basics the whole house of cards falls down, the basics in this case being hitting the weekly milestones, seeing proof of delivery, working with the facts, a point I hammer home daily and clearly describe in my book.

Its not Rocket Science, its basic Project Management.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 09:16

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Wednesday, 22 October
Going Down.

Well, as many of the financial institutions feel the pinch after falling off the wave of success, we hear of more big institutions falling hitting rock bottom, now RBS bites the dust and directors step down left, right and centre. It seems the old adage that the bigger they are the harder they fall seems to apply.

Anyway for PMadvice its been a slower week due to people being away and getting caught up in some international business where miss matches time zones slow communication. Well the international project appears to have started prematurely with the customer say they we ready, but were most definitely not.

So, a few delays, but this has given us time to do some more work on the PodCast of the book and to progress the marketing campaign we are driving to get PMadvice into the forefront of peoples minds.

As for me, well training for the Marathon needs to start at the beginning of November if I am going to get a sub 3 hour time, but due to a minor crash whilst riding motocross, my knee is swollen and my thigh is bruised. So I am off for treatment to try to get plans back on track.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 21:16

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Tuesday, 7 October
Plenty of Work, Plenty of Pain

Well another very busy week, I am pleased to say. We have some new customers on the hook and they are showing more interest as they look more seriously at where and how to save money in their organisations. This week we have witnessed the good old "Head in the Sand" syndrome of Project Managers been given big projects that they refuse to admit they cannot handle, I know we all have egos to protect, but some Project Managers would run blindly off a cliff to protect their ego rather than put their hand up and get the job done properly, they are so often too blind to see that they will be praised for a good job and chastised for a bad one.

I have been speaking with my Marketing Manager this week about upping our profile, so we are working on an article for the "Sunday Times" which I hope will be published in the not to distant future. The more I see company after company throwing money away on poor management and weak programme control the louder I want to shout the immortal words "Wake up and smell the coffee", its so frustrating how Project Managers just keep ploughing on, if only they would understand that the sooner you report an issue the small it will stay, the quicker you will get help, the sooner it will become a non-issue.

My publisher called today, my pre-order of 55 books for the next round of courses has arrived from Canada, the books are printed on demand as its the most cost effective, no waste, no excess approach, but the carbon foot print for delivery may be questionable. At least I can satisfy the back orders I have to post out.

As for me, well a busy weekend, the 12 hours Thetford "Dusk til Dawn" mountain bike race was hell, heavy rain all night, mud a plenty, 55min laps slipped and slided into 3 hour laps, my bike gave up after 10 hours, my lights after 3 hours and my body bruised and battered, ended up finishing 132nd out of 250, not bad really, will I do it again next year, probably yes.

I am in the London Marathon, the ballet form worked, my plans to run a Sub 3 hour marathon dressed as Elvis have started, training will start in Jan 2009.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 19:34

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Friday, 26 September

Voted, Recommend Article of the Week by PPMNG Chariman Miles Jennings

Voted, Most Read Article of the Week By PPMNG.

Where is the Integrity

Well another very busy week, Programme Management for a large UK Bank and PMadvice doing what it does best, giving advice and guidance to struggling Programmes and Projects, both linked by 'Integrity'.

One of the biggest concerns I have about being in business is 'Integrity', where has it gone?

This week I have see one large banking programme going of the rails because senior management prefer to have a jolly trip to the US and pretend to talk business and pretend they know what they are talking about, while the programme they are meant to be managing flounders due to a lack of international travel and communication at the right level, a lack of face to face meetings. Then on the other hand a glimmer of hope when an experienced Project Manager has the bottle to approach me and say 'Help, I am sinking, I need some PMadvice', a rare case indeed for someone to both recognise they need help and be prepared to ask for it.

So what do we do, for the large banking programme we raise the issues and escalate the problem, we email, we telephone, we document, we don't give up trying, we don't stop making it clear what the problem is, for the floundering Project Manager we review the workload, we re-structure the priorities, we re-structure the team and re-allocate responsibilities, we re-structure the meetings to cover the key issues in a timely manner.

Whats the end result, the Project Manager with 'Integrity' is now back on track, the projects are now moving again, the team is working affectively, the management is happy, the Project Manager is happy, as for the large banking programme, we continue to escalate the problem, as for progress there is little, and there will be little until 'Integrity' is restored!

I was asked a question today by a colleague in New Zealand about a prospective candidate for a job, I had worked with the guy previously, he asked me "did you ever have any issues with him I should be aware of", I paused before answering thinking my response will sound to straight forward, to simply to say well 'No, none', so I thought for a while, and yes, you guessed it 'Integrity' came into my mind, my reply "No, never, I list people in two categories, those I trust and those I don't, those that have Integrity and those that don't, the guy we are taking about ticks both the right boxes, I would trust him and he has Integrity", further more I have a list of names in my head of those with real 'Integrity' and those with not, the list of those with is not long!

As for me, I work of the frustration by training for the 'Dusk Till Dawn' mountain bike race, 12hrs of endurance racing through the night, 8 days to go till the race, a little training Tuesday and then carb'ing up for the remaining days and then calculate the race nutrition requirements, drinks, gels, salts etc.

Marston ECO Town march went very well at the weekend over 700 people turned out, excellent, very well organised by MMETAG, Hugh and Stuart.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 11:41

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Friday, 19 September
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!

Well another very busy week, meeting with clients, potential new business to quote for and frustrations on how companies let projects slip either un-reported or just ignored, if I asked them to put £10k pounds, in bank notes, in the middle of the floor each week and burn it they would think I was mad, but they are doing this every week letting projects continue poorly managed, missing milestone after milestone, business and the world have gone mad.

We now have more to offer, we have expanded are portfolio to include some new courses, the first being a Senior Manager and Directors course, designed to educate the senior management level on how important their role is in the successful delivery of projects, a half day course to as many as 10 senior managers for £1,240.00, our new second course is all about IT and Business Readiness, being ready for project implementation, designed to teach you just how many aspects there are to prepare for when implementing a big new system or service and how to manage getting all these aspects ready and in place, not just for the Implementation to run successfully, but also during and after covering all the many first occurrences that need to be monitored for and audit, regulatary and compliance checking.

I had another very good meeting with the BNI group, setting up a new Milton Keynes chapter is proving interesting and looking very promising from a business perspective, I look forward to the launch party and 70 companies being there all interested in new business offerings.

The book sales are still progressing, even though the big online book stores are not yet listing it, it can take up to 12 weeks for them to update date databases world wide, so much for technology, I could send a snail mail letter faster!

On a personal note training for the Thetford "Dusk till Dawn" continues well with 83 miles cycle training yesterday, the last ten was hard, I had ran out for fuel to consume, so it was only a matter of time before the muscles said 'no more thanks'. Only 3 weeks to go, so not long before the big 12hour endurance event commences.

Busy morning tomorrow as the fight against the so called ECO? Towns in the Marston Vales continues, we have a protest march tomorrow, hope to get some good press coverage, we just cannot let big business abuse our country for personal gain. This country used to be so proud and respected for its ethics and morals, now we stab each other in the back at the drop of a hat and let just about anyone screw us over. Bring back Maggie Thatcher, the days when nobody messed with us and Great Britian was just that, Great.

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 09:56

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Friday, 12 September
Crunch! ... I am more busy then ever.

Well, for a so called crunch I have never been so busy, with the publishing of the PMadvice book (http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=22174) and the various meetings with both new and existing customers about how the get the best out of one of their biggest investments, their staff, its been a busy month. At least a number of companies are turning a positive into a negative, thinking about investing in people and getting a good return on their money.

I had a meeting with a new customer this week, a big player in the retail market, they had done some analysis on how many IT projects they had run in the last 12 months, to August this year, and found that across all the projects they had, the total overrun on those projects totalled to 1367 days, at an average day rate of £410, they had lost over £560k. So, now we are talking about training the 41 project managers to better manage and deliver projects on time and on budget, an outlay of approx £110k for a potential saving of £560k.

It continues to amaze me how companies look at projects and see that they have slipped 1 week and think that this is not a big issue. Can they really not see that 5 days, on a project with 10 people at £410 per day, is over £22k lost. But all they see is the 5 days and think "not to bad then".

Anyway, with the book now selling at a good rate, we can at least start to re-educate people on the cost of project overrun being reported in days and not pound!

Posted by PMadvice - Ian Tomkins at 10:53

 

Posted by Ian Tomkins - @ 21:13

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