We are well into 4th quarter. Now is the time to do a sanity check on next year's projects. Is your organization doing the right projects at the right time? If you don't know a portfolio review from Project Right Track can answer that for you. Check us out at www.projectrighttrack.com

The Project That Wouldn't Die

I was working late one evening trying to finish a project plan. It was raining outside and the emptiness of the office was only interrupted by the sound of thunder and flash of lightning. Then "He" appeared in a black robe and sickle in hand , worse than death, it was the Grimm Sponsor. He spoke in a British accent, "Terry", he said, I need you to take over the ghost website project. "NO!!" I screamed , "That project has been going on forever".

The Grimm Sponsor replied, "Sorry Terry  but the Project Manager disappeared and we need you to finish the project".

"What do you mean disappeared? I asked."

"Never mind that", said the Grimm Sponsor. " The project documents are downstairs in the project war room". "Go take a look and let me know that you can finish this before Thanksgiving".

So with great dread and trepidation I headed downstairs. With each step I could hear the stairs creek, "Scope Creep, Scope Creep, Scope Creep" they groaned. When I reached the bottom I started walking down the hallway toward the door. As I passed several closed doors I though I heard a voice. "More time, more resources, more money" said the voice. As I kept walking, the air got colder. All of the sudden I tripped over something. I looked down and to my horror it was a skeleton. In its curled hand was a document. I picked it up and to my amazement it was the project charter. On it the version number was faded but looking closely it was version 1.0. I opened the document and took a look.

"Wow, this scope doesn't look that bad. I wondered what happened?" I asked. Then the voice came back. "More time, more resources, more money it growled" louder than before. Once more and even louder came the voice. "More, More, More!!

I came upon the door of the war room. I started to grab the handle. It was cold and forbidding to the touch. The voice came again, shouting " More, More, More". Slowly I opened the door. And there it was , in the middle of the room. Screaming "More, More, More" was that most hideous of creatures. The great Scope Blob. Oozing red ink it looked like it was growing.

Then it started heading towards me. I rushed for the door. It was jammed! "Oh No!" I was going to be scoped blobbed to death! Then the lights went out. A flash of lightning lit up the room. in the corner was a table with an old moldy pizza. Next to it was a a knife. I ran over and grabbed it. I lunged at the scope blob and cut away. A requirement here, gold plating there. I slashed and cut with all of my might. The blob wailed and whimpered. Then the lights flickered on. Where the large dreaded blob was before there were now several smaller blobs. I picked up each one and put them on the table. I then put them in order by size.

Just at that moment in came the Grimm Sponsor. "Sir", I said, "Pick the ones you need first and that will be delivery one". Then we will  deliver the next few. " Jolly good" he bellowed. " You have certainly cut this project down to size"

So the next time you're face with that project that just seems to grow, remember to split it up in manageable chunks and attack one at a time. Happy Halloween!

Check out this week's tip on the PRT web site at http://bit.ly/c4nANt. This week is part one of our halloween version, the Headless PM. Enjoy!

10 reasons why mid size companies need to have a project management office or PMO.

#10 - Mid size companies must keep tight control of budgets. A PMO can help by tracking project spend and working with mgmt to manage costs.

#9 - PMOs can help business teams in preparing project propsals and charters. This helps foster a consistent method in the organization.

#8 - PMOs can help companies look at new ways of executing projects inculding using agile methods.

#7 - PMOs can help companies implement project governance such as project reviews and steering committees

#6 - As companies undertake more projects there will be more dependencies between projects. The PMO can identify and manage dependencies.

#5 - As companies grow a consistent way of managing projects becomes important. The PMO can set project management standards and processes.

#4 - As companies grow the executives will need info on projects to make decisions with. The PMO is responsible for providing this info.

#3 - Mid size compaines face an ever changing business climate. The PMO can help with managing changes to the project portfolio.

#2 - Mid size companies may face resource utilization challenges. A PMO can help forecast and track resource utilization on projects.

#1 - As companies grow, the number and size of projects increases. A PMO can coordinate selection to make sure the right projects get done.

Here are 10 project management quick tips that I use on my projects.

#1 - At the end or beginning of each week take a look at the tasks for the next two weeks and verify their start, duration, and dependencies

#2 - Confirm with each owner with tasks due in next two weeks that they are on track and what they need from you and others to stay on track

#3 - Review risk list every week to determine if a risk is likely to be triggered. This way you can prep the mitigation steps just in case.

#4 - Regularly check status of other projects that can impact your resources or tasks so that you can invoke contigency plans if needed.

#5 - Read the last 2 weeks status reports to remind yourself of old issues or actions that have not been addressed.

#6 - Conduct a weekly checkpoint call or meeting with vendors to make sure they are on track and what they need from your team.

#7 - Use punch lists to list tasks needed to be completed when milestones are coming due. This helps you not miss anything.

#8 - Have regular reviews with stakeholders and sponsor. Use the time to resolve issues and show them progress to date.

#9 - Use flow charts or process diagrams to describe functionality on key functions. Pictures are your best friend!

#10 - At the end of the week jot down the three key things accomplished and the top issue of the week. These help you plan for next week.

Tools for a virtual team

According to Forrester’s US Telecommuting forecast an additional 29 million telecommuters will enter the remote workforce by 2016, totaling 43% of US workers. Technology has evolved so quickly that the tools we use as remote workers are the same tools we use at the office. It is estimated that 60% of office based employees use virtual teaming technologies daily. Here are some of the tools you can use when managing remote project teams.

The 1st tool required for virtual teams is a central calendar for all team members to post vacations, milestone, schedule meetings etc. When using a central calendar establish some basic standards on nomecalture, language etc so everybody can use it effectively.

Another valuable tool for virtual teams is a common project document repository such as sharepoint or dropbox. Use a check in and check out model for the document repository to prevent accidental overwrites and notify others when a document changes.

Video conferencing is another effective tool for virtual teams. It helps to build better interactions among the team. You don't always need high end video conferencing tools for things like one on one meetings. If your company allows consider Skype or OOVOO.

Another useful tool for virtual teams is web based conferecing such as Go To Meeting or WebEx. Make sure to establish rules for the use of web based conference tools as well as standards for how to conduct a virtual meeting.

When managing a virtual team consider using a project management and colaboration tool. This helps with task assignment and tracking.When using a project management tool make sure to enable the email function so as to notify team members when a task is assigned to them.

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Tools to support virtual project teams

The virtual workforce is growing. Currently 25% of US workers work remotely at least part time. This is going to increase in the next few years to almost 43% according to Forrester Research. Thus the chances will increase that you will have to manage a virtual project team. There are many tools that help support a virtual team. One of the easiest to implement but also one of the most important is a central calendar for the team. The calendar should be editable by all team members and should be used to:

• Request and schedule meetings
• Show holidays and vacations
• Show major milestones

Most companies will have a calendar as part of their email or collaboration software. If you don't have access to one, tools such as Google Calendar work well.