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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]> The FourPart Framework for Managing Staff 1 message Danielle Smallwood <[email protected]> Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 4:43 PM To: [email protected] Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe World Famous FREE Webinar Series Ten Time Management Tips for Peak Performance “Time is money” the saying goes, and lots of it gets lost in disorganization and disruption. We want to control our day, but often the day controls us. Some days it seems we are slaves to our calendar and emails – with no free will to independently impact events. Make time in your day to attend this great free webinar. TenStep webinars... attend... learn something. Date: 31 July 2015 Time: 12:00 (Atlanta time) Live participants will receive 1 PDUs. The FourPart Framework for Managing Staff Whenever a project manager has team members on the project, he needs to recognize the needs of managing human resources. The specific techniques you use will sometimes vary depending on whether you are managing employees or contractors. In many cases, the processes for managing contractors come from the procurement area rather than the Human Resources (HR) area. Small Projects The formal framework for managing staff is highly dependent on the size of the project. Small projects do not need much rigor in this area. A small project, by definition, will probably has very few staff members and they will probably have a short duration. Therefore you don't need to worry so much about staff acquisition, team dynamics and team development. For the same reasons, a small project is normally not going to run into many people problems. Medium and Large Projects Projects of this size, especially those on the larger size, tend to have many more team members for a longer period of time. These are the project where your people management skills come into play. This is also where the full people management process of staff acquisition, development and management are required. The following process areas tend to account for the majority of the work for managing the people on your team. Develop Staffing Plan. This is where you develop roles and responsibilities, staffing strategies, etc. for your project. This is usually not as hard as it sounds. Some of the information will be available from your Human Resources Department, and some is already established at a department level. You also need to define the type of staff you need, how many, when you need them and when they will be released. Acquire Project Team. This is the work associated with finding the resources you need on your project and having them available when needed. You can have staff assigned to you by the functional staffing managers. You might need to find and recruit your own team members. This third option is to procure the resources from thirdparty vendors. Develop Project Team. This is the work associated with making sure your team has the right skills. This usually involves determining the skills you need for your project, identifying the skills of the assigned team members, and figuring out how to close the gaps between the skills you need and the skills you have.

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

The Four­Part Framework for Managing Staff 1 message

Danielle Smallwood <[email protected]> Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 4:43 PMTo: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 400,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

World Famous FREEWebinar Series

Ten Time ManagementTips for PeakPerformance

“Time is money” the sayinggoes, and lots of it gets lost

in disorganization anddisruption. We want to

control our day, but often theday controls us. Some daysit seems we are slaves toour calendar and emails –

with no free will toindependently impact events.

Make time in your day toattend this great free

webinar.

TenStep webinars... attend...learn something.

Date: 31 July 2015

Time: 12:00 (Atlanta time)

Live participants will receive 1PDUs.

The Four­Part Framework for Managing StaffWhenever a project manager has team members on the project, he needs to recognizethe needs of managing human resources. The specific techniques you use willsometimes vary depending on whether you are managing employees or contractors. Inmany cases, the processes for managing contractors come from the procurement arearather than the Human Resources (HR) area.

Small Projects

The formal framework for managing staff is highly dependent on the size of the project.Small projects do not need much rigor in this area. A small project, by definition, willprobably has very few staff members and they will probably have a short duration.Therefore you don't need to worry so much about staff acquisition, team dynamics andteam development. For the same reasons, a small project is normally not going to runinto many people problems.

Medium and Large Projects

Projects of this size, especially those on the larger size, tend to have many more teammembers for a longer period of time. These are the project where your peoplemanagement skills come into play. This is also where the full people managementprocess of staff acquisition, development and management are required.

The following process areas tend to account for the majority of the work for managingthe people on your team.

Develop Staffing Plan. This is where you develop roles and responsibilities,staffing strategies, etc. for your project. This is usually not as hard as it sounds.Some of the information will be available from your Human ResourcesDepartment, and some is already established at a department level. You alsoneed to define the type of staff you need, how many, when you need them andwhen they will be released.

Acquire Project Team. This is the work associated with finding the resourcesyou need on your project and having them available when needed. You can havestaff assigned to you by the functional staffing managers. You might need to findand recruit your own team members. This third option is to procure the resourcesfrom third­party vendors.

Develop Project Team. This is the work associated with making sure your teamhas the right skills. This usually involves determining the skills you need for yourproject, identifying the skills of the assigned team members, and figuring out howto close the gaps between the skills you need and the skills you have.

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Manage Project Team. This includes all the hard part of managing staff,including providing performance feedback, managing people­related problems,leading the team and ensuring that the team is cohesive and performing well.

Managing staff can be tricky. Some project managers do very poorly dealing with thepeople on the team. Others consider this a strength. If you only manage smallerprojects you can get by without being a great people manager. But as projects getbigger and have more staff, it is an area you need to master to be successful. ..............................................................................

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

Be Proactive to Ensure Project Staff is Available as Needed 1 message

Danielle Smallwood <[email protected]> Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 4:41 PMTo: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 400,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

World Famous PremiumWebinar Series

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Problems come in all shapes,sizes, and with varying levelsof complexities. As projectmanagers, we must recognizethese problems and promptlyaddress them. Otherwise theymay impede a successfulproject delivery.

In this session we will reviewa problem solving approachand specific techniques toachieve resolution.

TenStep webinars... attend...learn something.

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Be Proactive to Ensure Project Staff is Available as NeededManaging staff can be a challenge. In large organizations, or on large projects, you mayhave the luxury of full­time resources for your entire team. However, in many (or most)situations, the project manager must utilize shared and part­time resources to completethe work. In a matrix organization, people are assigned full time to a functionalorganization, but can be temporarily assigned full time or part time to a project as well.In this case, the functional manager may be responsible for part of a team member’sworkload and a project manager is responsible for assigning the work associated withthe project.

Project managers in a matrix organization often feel they have responsibility fordelivering results but little authority over the staff. As a project manager you need tomaintain a planning window of your resource needs. This includes a very detailedunderstanding of resource needs over the next three months. This is also referred to asrolling wave planning. You then update and refine the staffing needs on a monthly basis.The closest month should be pretty firm. Two months out should be pretty close. Threemonths out and beyond is best guess.

On the other hand, if the project staffing needs are well understood, you may want tomaintain a six to nine month resource window and update the plan every quarter.

Planning for your staffing needs is very important. However, proactive communication iseven more important. Remember that in a matrix organization, project managers needresources to do their work, but they do not own them – the functional managers do. So,the onus is usually on the project managers to make sure that the resources areavailable when they are needed, and that there are no surprises. For instance, if youand the functional manager agree that a specific set of people will be available for oneof your projects in two months, don’t just show up in two months and expect them to beready to go. In fact, you should expect that they will not be ready if you have notcommunicated often and proactively. The project manager should gain agreement onresources two months in advance. The resources should be confirmed again at the nextmonthly staff allocation meeting. The project manager should double­check resourcesagain two weeks before the start­date, and follow­up with a reminder one week out.

You are much more likely to have the resources available when you need them if youtake these proactive steps.

..............................................................................

Another new E­Class ­ Estimating! ­ Earn 4 PDUs!Projects that start out with poor estimates are doomed to failure. Yet, there is no questionthat estimating work is difficult because it is partially an art and partially a science. The

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objective of the estimator is to base as much of the estimate as possible on the “science”side, while also applying sound judgment and valid techniques to the “art” side.

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

Use the Responsibility Matrix to Clarify Who Does What on Your Project 1 message

Danielle Smallwood, TenStep <[email protected]> Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 4:33 PMReply­To: [email protected]: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 400,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

Get Help in ProgramManagement by the

ExpertsA program provides controlover a set of underlyingprojects to achieve acommon benefit. Programshave their own set ofprocesses and techniques. At TenStep we supportprogram management inevery way:* Practical training classes* Prep for the PgMP Exam* Consulting services* Contract staffingThere are not many simpleprograms. By their natureprograms are usually largeand complex. You don't wantto screw them us. They aretoo important.Contact me at Tom Mochalfor more information onprogram managementmethodology, training andconsulting.

Use the Responsibility Matrix to Clarify Who Does WhatIn a large project, there may be many people that have some role in the creation andapproval of project deliverables. Sometimes this is pretty straightforward, such as oneperson writing a document and one person approving it. In other cases, there may bemany people who have a hand in the creation and others that need to have varyinglevels of approval. For complicated scenarios involving many people, it can be helpfulto have a Deliverable Responsibility Matrix. One example is a RACI chart that identifiesindividuals that are (R)esponsible, (A)ccountable, (C)onsulted and (I)informed. This typeof chart ensures people know what is expected from them.

On the matrix, the different people (or roles) appear as columns, with the specificdeliverables in question listed as rows. Then, use the intersecting points to describeeach person's responsibility for each deliverable. A simple matrix is shown, followed bysuggested responsibility categories.

ProjectSponsor

ProjectDirector

ProjectManager

ProjectTeam

SteeringCommittee

Project Charter R/A C R C C

CommunicationManagement Plan A C R C I

Business Requirements A C R R I

Status Reports I I R C I

R ­ Responsible (creates) the deliverable

A ­ Authorizes (approves) the deliverable

C ­ Consulted as the deliverable is created

I ­ Informed

In the table above, the Project Charter is created by the project manager and the projectsponsor. The charter is then approved by the project sponsor. The project director,project team and steering committee are all consulted for input.

The matrix is used to clarify and gain agreement on who does what, so you can definethe columns with as much detail as makes sense. For instance, in the above example,the 'project team' could have been broken into specific people responsible for creatingthe Business Requirements.

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.......................................................................................

Instructor Lead ClassesAre all of your team members experts in all aspects of project management? We didnot think so. Click here to review the complete set of TenStep instructor­lead classes.Contact us today to bring our expert instructors to your organization before the end ofthe year.

Copyright © 2016 TenStep, Inc.Follow us on:

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

TenStep Tip. Six Ways to Develop Skills on Your Project Team 1 message

Danielle Smallwood, TenStep <[email protected]> Wed, Oct 5, 2016 at 4:34 PMReply­To: [email protected]: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 400,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

Take PM Fundamentalsat Your Own Pace

This TenStep “Fundamentals”e­class series provides anoverview of the concepts,processes and techniquesassociated with managing aproject from end to end.These sessions teach the

practical application of value­add project management.

Students will complete the e­class armed with techniquesand processes to apply to

your own projects.

The Fundamentals of ProjectManagement e­class is madeup of 10 2­hour sessions. Buyindividual sessions or theentire e­class at a great

discounted rate.

Click here to learn more orcontact us for information on

company licenses.

Six Ways to Develop Your Project TeamRegardless of how a project team gets assigned, the project manager needs to makesure that the team members have the right skills to complete their assigned tasks. Infact, if the team members do not have all the right skills and the project manager cannothelp them acquire the skills, the project would appear to be at risk.This does not always mean sending a person to class. There are many other learningevents that can help, including:

Magazines. Every field and industry has specialty magazines. Many of thesemagazines are free or available for a nominal cost. Books. Books are similar to magazines except that they generally go into muchgreater detail describing new thinking and ideas. (In fact, click here for a freeproject management e­book.) Seminars and webinars. Companies are always sponsoring seminars (inperson) and webinars (on the web). Many of these events are free. It just takessome of your time to attend, but they typically only last from an hour up to a day.Mentoring. Mentoring involves a transfer of advice from a person that hasexperience (mentor) to one that is learning. A team member can meet on anongoing basis with a mentor to discuss situations the team member is facing andhow the mentor may have handled a similar situation in the past. These could besituations where the team member can learn technical skills, business skills,office politics or any area where information can be shared. Most people lovetalking about what they do and are glad to comply.Self­teach classes and Computer­Based Training (CBTs). Most companieshave computer­based training or videos available for employees to utilize. Theycan be a good alternative to formal classroom training since you can review themat your convenience and at your own pace. You can also find many e­classes onthe Internet at inexpensive prices.Other

. There are other opportunities for personal development. People just need to use theirimagination. These include joining professional associations, internet training, attendingnight classes, listening to speakers at your local college, distance learning, etc.Of course, you should not forget formal training classes. Sometimes they are the bestoption if the skills learned can be applied directly to your project today. However, don’tthink that this is the only way that training can occur. There are usually other effective

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ways as well, depending on the skill to be learned. The key to good training, in whateverform, is being able to apply the training on your project soon after you have learned thenew skills.

.......................................................................................

Instructor Lead ClassesAre all of your team members experts in all aspects of project management? We didnot think so. Click here to review the complete set of TenStep instructor­lead classes.Contact us today to bring our expert instructors to your organization before the end ofthe year.

Copyright © 2016 TenStep, Inc.Follow us on:

This message was sent to [email protected] from:

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

Use These Nine Steps to Estimate Effort on Your Project 1 message

Danielle Smallwood, TenStep <[email protected]> Wed, Nov 2, 2016 at 4:35 PMReply­To: [email protected]: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 400,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

World Famous FREE

Webinar Series

The Big Three ­Understanding Project,Program and Portfolio

Management

Many people hear the termsprojects, programs andportfolios, but are not surewhat they all mean and howthey fit together. All three arestructures that allow you toorganize certain types of work.It is important to understandthe nature of the work so thatyou can apply the rightprocess. For example, if youapply program managementprocesses to a portfolio, theresults will not be what youexpect.

Join us for a discussion wherewe compare and contrast thesethree fundamental workprocesses. The results maysurprise you.

Live Webinar

Date: 11 November, 2016

Time: 12:00­1:00 EST (GMT­4,but check the time in yourarea.)

Students will receive one PDUfor attending this live session.

Use These Nine Steps to Estimate Effort on Your ProjectEstimating is one of the most important parts of the planning process. Effort hours (manhours) must be estimated first, before duration and cost estimates can be prepared.Use the following nine steps to estimate effort hours.

1. Determine how accurate your estimate needs to be

Typically, the more accurate the estimate, the more detail you need to understand aboutthe project, and perhaps the more time that is needed. If you are asked for a roughorder of magnitude (ROM) estimate (­25% ­ +75%), you might be able to complete thework quickly, at a high level, and with a minimum amount of detail. On the other hand, ifyou must provide an accurate estimate within 10%, you need to spend more time andunderstand the work at a lower level of detail.

2. Create the initial estimate of effort hours

Estimate the work of the project using one or more estimating techniques (analogy, priorhistory, PERT, modeling, etc.).

3. (optional) Factor the effort hours based on the resources assigned

Your estimates are probably based on the effort it will take an average resource to dothe work (or perhaps the estimates are based on the effort it would take if you did thework). Sometimes you also have knowledge of the exact resource or the type ofresource that will be assigned. If you do, you may want to factor the estimate up ordown based on that resource.

4. Add specialist resource hours

Make sure you have included hours for part­time and specialty resources. This couldinclude freelancers, training specialists, administrative help, etc. These are people thatmay not be obvious at first, but you may need them for special activities. Becausethey are typically in project support roles, you may have forgotten to include theiractivities in the original Work Breakdown Structure.

5. Add project management time

Project management takes effort. A rule of thumb is to add 15% of the effort hours forproject management. For instance, if a project estimate is 12,000 hours (7 ­ 8 people),then a full­time project manager (1800 hours) is needed. These hours are not applied ata constant rate. The project planning process may be 100% project management, andthen the ongoing work may be 5­10%.

6. Add contingency hours

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TenStep webinars... attend...learn something.

Contingency is used to reflect the uncertainty or risk associated with the estimate. Ifyou are asked to estimate work that is not well defined, you may add 50%, 75% ormore to reflect the uncertainty. If the estimate was required on short notice, a largecontingency may be required. Even if you have time to create a reasonably accurateestimate, your contingency may still be 10­25%. If you do not add a contingencyamount, it would mean that you are 100% confident in your estimate. This may be thecase if similar types of projects have been done before.

7. Calculate the total effort

Add up the estimates for all the work components described above.

8. Review and adjust as necessary

Sometimes when you add up all the components, the estimate seems obviously high orlow. If your estimate does not look right, go back and make adjustments to yourestimating assumptions to better reflect reality.

9. Document all assumptions

You will never know all the details of a project for certain. Therefore, it is important todocument all the assumptions you are making along with the estimate.

.....

The TenStep Suite

Customize ­ Deploy ­ Manage

Manage your project from start to finish with the TenStep Suite ­ Methodology andmore. The TenStep Suite contains what you need to both manage projects and to trainpeople on how to run the projects.

Copyright © TenStep, Inc.Follow us on:

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

TenStep Tip. Three Steps to Identify and Address Poor Team Member Performance 1 message

Danielle Smallwood <[email protected]> Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 4:45 PMTo: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 400,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

PM Toolkit

Over 45 Great Templatesto Start Your Project

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Over 45 high­quality,standards­based, projectmanagement documenttemplates and forms.Buy one or buy the whole kit.Check it out here.

Three Steps to Identify and Address Poor Team Member Performance

Project managers encounter team member performance problems all the time. In manycases you don't feel like you have the authority to address these situations. However,usually you do have some options. You can at least better understand the nature of theperformance problem. Depending on the severity of the problem you might also be ableto address it.

Step 1. The first step is to collect facts that help you understand the nature of theperformance problem. You should write down instances where the performance did notmeet your expectations. You will need these examples to start a performance discussion.They should not be hard to gather. You would not be trying to resolve a performanceproblem if there were not specific instances to you can document.

Step 2. Once the factual examples are ready, the second step is to have a preliminaryperformance discussion. This discussion will make the employee aware of the perceivedperformance problem. You will also get the employee’s feedback and response.

In many cases, the manager jumps to the conclusion that there is a performanceproblem, pure and simple. However, there may be other reasons why the employee’sperformance may not be up to expectations. For example, the performance problemmay be the result of a skill gap. The problem could be caused by competing non­projectwork. The problem could be caused by a personality conflict. You need some insightinto the nature of the problem before you can move head to resolution.

Step 3. Once the projects manager and team member discuss the situation, he will beable to create the right action plan. Perhaps just bringing the performance perception tothe team member's attention will help to resolve the situation. The short­term plan mayrequire work from both the manager and employee. The plan should also include a timeto get back together again for a progress report. It is important to get back together todetermine whether there has been any improvement in performance. If there has been,then perhaps the situation just needs to be monitored from that point.

As a project manager you have some ability to provide performance feedback whenwork is not up to your expectations. However, you do not have total control. If yourpreliminary three­step approach does not work, or if the team member is resistance toworking with you, you will need to get the person's functional manager involved andaddress the situation through a more formal performance management processes.

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..................................................................................

TenStep Virtual PMOMany organizations recognize the value of a PMO but have difficulty staffing this criticalorganization.

TenStep can help you gain the value of a PMO by utilizing our expert staff on a full­timeor part­time basis. You benefit from our expert PMO resources while your staff focuseson the critical projects to meet your business needs. A Project Management Office canadd significant value to your projects and to your entire organization. Contact TomMochal for more information.

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

TenStep Tip ­ Five Ways to be Try to Turn Around Marginal Performers 1 message

Danielle Smallwood <[email protected]> Wed, May 6, 2015 at 4:42 PMTo: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 400,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

Happy Anniversary toTenStep!

TenStep was founded in May,2000. People ask how we

thought of the name"TenStep". When the

company was started, weonly had one product ­ the

TenStep ProjectManagement Process. (It

had ten "steps".) So it madesense at the time that thecompany would also be

called "TenStep".

Today we are a globalcompany with dozens ofworld class products and

services. We have extendedour company from projectmanagement to programmanagement, portfoliomanagement, strategicplanning, project lifecycle

and much more.

Five Ways to be Try to Turn Around Marginal PerformersOne problem that many project managers never get comfortable with is dealing withpoor performers. Some people are such poor performers that they ultimately firethemselves. Maybe the bigger challenge is trying to improve marginal performers.These are people that constantly disappoint. The miss a high performance bar, butwhen you lower the bar they miss that as well. In spite of these marginal performers,you still have to complete your project successfully. You should look at a number ofpossible causes for marginal performance.

Does the person have the right skills and experience? Sometimes people donot deliver up to expectations because they do not have the right skills to do thejob. For instance, you assign a person to complete the analysis for a new set ofreports, but he is not sure how to ask the right questions or frame a discussionwith the clients. If anyone falls into this category, you need to decide whether hecould do the work with the right training or whether he should be replaced.

Do they understand your expectations? If people have the right skills, askwhether they really understand what the expectations are. For instance,sometimes when a team member misses a deadline, he might come back andsay that he did not think the work was due at that time. If there is someconfusion on the expectations, you can have the person confirm back to you inwriting his understanding of the expectations for deliverables and dates.

Are they motivated? Some people are not motivated to do a good job regardlessof the assignments and skills needed. You can take one shot at trying tomotivate the person. but after that you would need to being this to the attentionof the person's functional manager.

Can you assign them other work? Perhaps the person could do better ­perhaps excel ­ if they were assigned different type of work. Look through yourschedule to see if you have flexibility to assign work that is valuable to you andthat they can do well.

Are there extenuating circumstances? Another area to consider is whetherthere are any business or personal factors that could explain a person’sperformance. For instance, a member of your team may not be very motivated towork if his spouse is very ill. If you can find a cause, it will give you some abilityto respond or at least acknowledge the cause.

If people have the right skills and the right expectations, then the project manager’soptions become more limited, and you start to enter the realm of the performancemanagement. It is possible that some team members are not going to do be able to

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perform up to expectations. They may not be willing to do the job, or they may not beable to do the work regardless of the training and support you provide. If you feel youare at this point, you need to get the appropriate functional manager involved.

It is difficult and frustrating to work with and rely upon people who do not come through.After you look at the problems and try to determine the cause, you may just decide ifthere are things that you can do as a project manager or if there is a performanceproblem that needs to be brought to the attention of the functional manager.

............

Do you need help assessing your organization, deploying project management or otherprocesses? Contact us today to discuss implementing solid project managementpractices in your organization.

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

TenStep Tip. Five Ways to Turn Around a Dysfunctional Team 1 message

Danielle Smallwood <[email protected]> Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 4:37 PMTo: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 400,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

This Week!

Problem Solving forProject Managers

Problems come in allshapes, sizes, and withvarying levels ofcomplexities. As projectmanagers, we mustrecognize these problemsand promptly address them.Otherwise they may impedea successful project delivery.

In this session we will reviewa problem solving approachand specific techniques toachieve resolution.

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Five Ways to Turn Around a Dysfunctional Team

Many teams have some personality conflicts among team members. This is a typicalhuman resource problem. However, on some teams the personal animosity is so greatthat the team has a hard time functioning together. When this problem is recognized bythe sponsor or the functional manager, the project manager is often replaced (this isusually an easier option than trying to replace the entire project team).

If you are a project manager that takes over a dysfunctional project team, there are anumber of areas that require your attention.The first thing you want to do is assess the current state of the project. Your responseto the project team problems will depend on where you are at with the schedule. Forinstance, if you have 30 days of work remaining, you will have less ability to make animpact on the team dynamics. In this case, the best course of action may be to try tomotivate the team for the final push and watch the schedule closely. On the other hand,if your project has many months to go, then you need to see what can be done to repairthe damage on the team as well as re­plan the schedule to deliver on a new realistictimeframe. Any plan is going to include the following items:

Communicate well. If the project manager is a poor communicator, it can resultin a miserable project experience for everyone. Teams with poor morale tend tohave poor communication channels. Don’t let rumors and uncertainty fester.Make sure you share as much information as you can about the project statusand anything else that may impact the project team.Praise and compliment. When people on your team do a good job, make surethey know it. People don’t expect money or gifts when they do a good job – justa pat on the back and a ‘well done’ by their manager. Give it to them – bothinformally and formally.Set clear expectations. People need to understand what is expected of them sothat they know the challenges they need to meet. Make sure you give clearinstructions when you hand out work so that people understand what they areexpected to do.Don’t over commit your team. As you try to improve morale, you also need tobe careful not to over commit the team. Determine the work remaining to finishthe project and remove anything that is extraneous or can be done afterimplementation.Win some small battles. Poor morale can cause your team to miss deadlines,which causes more pressure and degrades morale even further. The opposite istrue as well. If the team can start hitting some interim deadlines (and you

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communicate this fact and praise them), the team morale should improve, whichmay make it easier to hit your next deadline.

These are some ideas for turning the project around. Make sure you try to identify asmany team problems as you can, as well as the root causes if possible. Then, puttogether an action plan based on how much work and time is remaining on the project. Ifthere is not a lot of time remaining, focus on the schedule. If a lot of time is remaining,focus on repairing the project team, as well as completing the schedule...............................................................................

Product Discounts 20­80% OffWe have dozens of great project management products that are used by tens ofthousands of companies and individuals around the world ­ templates, e­classes, e­books, methodology, PMP­Prep products, and many more.Join our PM Discount email list. Every email has bargains of 20­80% off. Click here to sign­up now and you will receive your first discount immediately.

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

TenStep Tip ­ Seven Ways to Show Leadership on Challenging Projects 1 message

Danielle Smallwood <[email protected]> Wed, Jul 29, 2015 at 4:43 PMTo: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 400,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

Product Discounts 20­80% Off

We have dozens of greatproject managementproducts that are used bytens of thousands ofcompanies and individualsaround the world ­templates, e­classes, e­books, methodology, PMP­Prep products, and manymore.Join this special email list tobe aware of productdiscounts and special offers.Don't miss out!. Most ofthese special offers are onlyavailable to members on thislist. Click here to sign­up nowand you will receive your firstdiscount immediately.

Seven Ways to Show Leadership on Challenging ProjectsProject managers need to be leaders. Leadership can be easy when things are goingwell; everyone will follow you then. However, when times are tough, leadership can behard, but it is also more vital than ever. Here are some things to keep in mind to leadyour team through the difficulty.

Keep your eyes on the big picture. When things get tough, everybody'stemptation is to become acutely focused on the problems. A leader staysfocused on the vision of completing the project objectives.

Keep positive. When circumstances get tough, even the most loyal teammembers can be tempted to start blaming each other. They begin to questioneach other and find many faults with one another. A leader must keep positiveand act rationally and objectively.

Be the first to sacrifice. When there is pain to share, leaders should do just that­ lead. If the team needs to work overtime, the project manager should workovertime as well. If the project team needs to come in on a weekend day, theproject manager needs to be in as well.

Remain calm. Panic is a common human emotion and no one is immune to it. Aleader, however, thinks the problems through and remains calm. Being calm willenable the leader to make the right decisions for the entire team. Panic onlyleads to disaster, while calm leads to success.

Motivate. In tough and challenging times, people are naturally down. They tendto be pessimistic. They can't see how it is all going to work out. The projectmanager should focus on motivating the team and painting a vision for projectcompletion and success on some level.

Create small wins. One of the ways to motivate is to create small wins. Whenthings are bad, the team starts to wonder how they can win. The project managershould look for ways to win – even small, interim victories. With each small win,the leader will build a positive attitude.

Keep a sense of humor. Hardly anything in life can't be a source of laughter. Asthe project manager you need to look for opportunities to instill fun, and laugh atyourself and the situations that present themselves.

A weak project manager is usually unable to get the team out of a large hole becausehe does not have the ability to lead the way out. When project managers showleadership, the team will follow – maybe not immediately, but eventually. The project

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manager is in the right position to lead the charge and get the entire project back onsound footing again.

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Impress customers and your boss with professional looking,comprehensive documents. Over 45 high­quality, standards­based, project management document templates and forms.There are some really, really good templates here.Check it out here.

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

Think About Staffing on Complex Projects1 message

Danielle Smallwood, TenStep <[email protected]> Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 5:34 PMReply­To: [email protected]: [email protected]

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Free Industry WhitePapers

Click here for moreinformation and to see

what is available for free.

Use These Six Sections for a Staffing Management PlanThe Staffing Management Plan describes your overall approach for acquiring andmanaging human resources on your project. The types of information to include in thisplan include:

Overall staffing approach. Describe the overall approach you will take forstaffing the project, including your use of employees, contractors andoutsourcing firms. For instance, if some of the work is outsourced, state thathere. Describe the rational for using contract labor versus employee labor. If thetiming of bringing in resources is critical, you can discuss that as well.

Location. Describe where the team is located. For example, the team membersmay be co­locating for the length of this project. Some team members may beworking from home. You may also have virtual team members that reside inother cites or other countries.

Staff acquisition. This is probably a table that describes what types ofresources are needed, when they are needed and where they are coming from. Ifyou are projecting to use contract resources or new employees you may need todescribe when you will start to recruit for the positions.

Training. In many cases, you may have the correct number of team members tosupport your project. However, they may not have the right skills. If you know ofspecific people who will need training, state so in this section. This section doesnot include general skills to increase competencies. Only include the training thatis specifically required for your team to be successful on this project.

Reassignment. All projects come to an end. Describe the plan for reassigningthe project team once their role on the project is completed.

Project rewards and consequences. Describe if there will be specificincentives for the staff on your project. This could be simply non­monetaryrewards such as formal “Thanks” awards at weekly status meetings. There couldalso be monetary bonuses based on the successful completion of the project. Bydefault, negative behavior is not rewarded with these incentives.

Most projects do not need a Staffing Management Plan. However, if your project uses alot of human resources, this Plan may be helpful for you to think about how you willacquire, develop and motivate the staff on your project. If it is helpful to you, createone.

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Khaled Dahleez <[email protected]>

Communicate Proactively on Based on Poject Size 1 message

Danielle Smallwood, TenStep <[email protected]> Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 5:41 PMReply­To: [email protected]: [email protected]

This weekly "tips" email currently has over 100,000 readers. Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe

Take PM Fundamentalsat Your Own Pace

This TenStep “Fundamentals”e­class series provides anoverview of the concepts,processes and techniquesassociated with managing aproject from end to end.These sessions teach the

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Communicate Proactively Based on Your Project Size

You all know the drill. You are doing a heroic job managing a project, solving problems,providing leadership to the team, and trying to get all the work done on time and withinbudget. However, when your manager or your client asks how the project is going, youreply “oh fine”. Many project managers try to communicate with the minimum possible effort and in thefewest words. Part of this hesitancy is a lack of comfort with written and verbalcommunication in general. It could also be that most project managers simply do notunderstand the value that proactive communication provides to a project. Status Reports Satisfy Basic Communication Requirements Status Reports provide feedback to the key stakeholders on the current status of theproject and the work that has been completed since the last communication. These arealso forums to discuss outstanding issues, scope change requests, risks, etc. Themain purpose of the status reports is to manage expectations, and make sure there areno surprises. Create a Communication Plan for Large Projects On larger projects, especially those that impact a wide variety of people, the basicstatus report is no longer enough. The communication needs to be proactive,multifaceted and targeted. This is the time for establishing a formal CommunicationPlan. In a Communication Plan, you think about your major stakeholders, theirinformation needs and the best way to satisfy those needs. Then you tailor specifictypes of communication to meet the particular needs of each audience. Use Collaborative Software as Projects Get Larger Large projects generally have a large number of stakeholders. The stakeholders alsotend to be diverse and dispersed. You should consider software packages andcollaborative tools that facilitate sharing documents and enable easy communication. Communication ­ Just Do It! You have all heard the simple saying, “communicate, communicate, communicate”.Project managers should take this to heart. There are many aspects of a project thatare not totally within your hands. Communication, however, is something that is directly

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within your control. You might be surprised how smoothly your project progresses whenyou communicate proactively to the team, clients and stakeholders....................................................

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TenStep has the integrated suite of products that you need to enable project success. Itis more than a methodology. It is the ultimate combination of sound projectmanagement processes and supporting content for skill­building ­ all in one product!

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