Journyx Project Management Blog
Project management and other news from your pals at Journyx
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Lisa Anderson at Project Smart has provided her ideas on the top 3 causes of project failure:
1. Lack of a Clearly Designated Project Leader
2. Lack of Clear Expectations and Goals
3. Communication Challenges
The common thread here seems to be communication and clarity. Projects cannot succeed unless everyone knows who is in charge, what the expectations and goals are, and what they are supposed to be doing. I would add ‘Lack of Visibility’ to the list, because not knowing which resources are available, how much work has been completed and how much remains, and how much time and money has been spent on the project is a recipe for disaster as well.
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Related stories:
Project Smart: Avoiding Project Failure: It’s Not Rocket Science
Michael Krigsman, the well-known blogger behind IT Project Failures, has posted a theory on why IT projects have such a high failure rate. It’s not that good processes aren’t in place – they often are. Rather, project management methodologies do not account for “the human element.” Krigsman blames this omission for much of IT failure, writing, “Management perspectives and techniques that ignore the human element are doomed to fail.”
To be clear: methodology, process, and risk control are essential attributes of all large project initiatives. However, existing tools do not sufficiently address human dimensions that interfere with efficient process. Stated accurately, the tools are not bad, however, they are incomplete.
So how do project managers effectively address the human element? Krigsman references an article that proposes risk leadership instead of simple risk management. The difference is in the approach – the latter relies heavily on processes and methodology while the former accounts for unexpected outcomes and social interaction. In addition, Krigsman feels strongly that “collaboration across silos and departments [are] a fundamental consideration for project success.”
Journyx today announces that Event 360, Inc. is managing its projects, resources and time more effectively with Journyx ProjectXecute. Journyx ProjectXecute unites project planning with resource management, helping companies to execute projects successfully every time and achieve the highest return on investment possible.
Event 360 – the nation’s leading designer and director of fundraising, advocacy and awareness events for nonprofits – hosts hundreds of events with thousands of volunteers each year. Each event has many components, programs, resources, etc., that must be handled seamlessly for the event to run perfectly. Event 360 sought a better way to manage all of these resources to ensure that all events ran as smoothly as possible for their clients. Journyx ProjectXecute shows customers who is working on what, when they’ll be finished and who is available for the next project. This information allows Event 360 to determine which projects are in danger and why.
Read the rest of the press release at the Journyx website.
Feeling nostalgic for our webinars? Not to worry! Journyx is now offering three of your favorites from last season, as well as two brand new ones. If you’re interested in learning how to extend Microsoft Project, enhance customer experience or better align IT with the organization, sign up now at: http://projectxecute.com/?q=webinars.html.
The International Community for Project Managers is a repository of articles, links and other useful pieces of information for project managers. (In fact, our CEO is one of their contributing writers.) One of their recent articles, “Implications of Diversity on Project Management,” raises an issue that most of us might not always consider – the fact that diversity in project teams is not only beneficial and desirable, but is also something that must be accounted for and managed in order to maximize value. The writer says, “Of the many factors that are used in global management work, the most important – and most impulsive – are employees. While capital, land and technology can be planned and hazards predicted and managed, employees are most difficult to manage globally.” She goes on to suggest not only fostering team diversity, but also addressing it by encouraging team members to talk through their feelings about diversity and to communicate their way to a better understanding of each other.
How large a factor do you think one’s cultural and professional background plays in their interaction with other team members and with you, the project manager?
I have been having several conversations recently around the subjects of accountability vs. responsibility and titles vs. roles, specifically around who does what on a project and what they are really supposed to be doing. There were a lot of undercurrents in these conversations, but there are a few that are worth exploring as relevant to your effectiveness leading a project team. Keep these ideas in mind the next time you work with your team to determine who is doing what on your project.
Read the entire article at ProjectConnections.
Let’s take a look back at some of the pieces we’ve posted on bringing together people, processes and strategy.
1. Tips and Tricks for Facilitating Conflict Resolution
A ProjectTimes article on how to get your employees or colleagues to push past conflict and come to a resolution.
2. How to Choose the Right Collaboration Software
An article from Inc. Magazine on choosing a system that will allow employees in all different workspaces to share data and collaborate on projects.
3. Tying Projects to Organizational Strategy
A ProjectConnections article on how to ensure that the projects you take on are helping you move towards your strategic goals.
4. The New Face of Strategic Planning
A PM World Today article written by the EVP of our partner, Cognitive Technologies, on how to bring project managers and strategic planners together for optimal success.
Here at Journyx, we hold meetings about our customers. Each month, we choose a different customer and invite everyone who has ever interacted with this customer to a meeting. These meetings bring together a range of people, from the salespeople and account managers who speak to the customer regularly and learn of their needs to the implementation and professional services teams who work, sometimes on-site, to meet these needs. Often, employees who rarely have meetings together find themselves here, where their combined presence provides insight into every aspect of the customer experience. Is this customer having a problem? What can we do to solve it? Is that feasible? And solutions are born.
It is extremely useful for departments to meet every so often – Marketing, Sales, IT – but familiar faces lead to familiar insights, from which springs complacency and stagnance. Want to shake things up in your organization? Schedule a meeting that brings together people with different backgrounds, skill sets, values and opinions, and then take advantage of this group to address an important company issue. You just might be surprised by the results.
- April Boland, Journyx Communications Coordinator
According to a popular song, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need.” Words of wisdom in popular culture. We often want to bite off more than we can chew, especially when we see exciting new technology. Yet think of it this way: Would you give your grandmother an iPhone 3G for Christmas if she has never touched a PC before? It might be an incredible piece of technology that can hold her photos, her shopping lists, her favorite music … but if she cannot figure out how to turn it on, it’s not much use, is it?
Likewise, many companies get excited about business technology. Software vendors promise to solve all of their problems with the click of a button. And, to be fair, the tools they provide might be able to do just that. But if your organization is not mature enough to handle it, you might as well put the software right up on a shelf immediately after purchase. It will not be rolled out, it will not be used, and it will be a total waste of money. For example, are you looking for a complex, sophisticated PPM solution while your team members aren’t even tracking time to tasks yet? Are you hoping for the latest cutting edge resource management technology, but you can’t even say who will be available to work on your project next month?
All of us have to crawl before we walk, though we can often forget this.
- April Boland, Journyx Communications Coordinator
When employees spend a lot of time in the field, it can be difficult to manage projects and share information. Especially when those employees are actually out in the middle of a giant field. That was the situation at Stranger’s Hill Organics, an 81-acre farm in Bloomington, Indiana, that grows organic produce and sells it to Whole Foods Market, food co-ops, and farmers’ markets. Almost two years ago, the farm’s founders, Dale and Lee Jones, brought on four new partners to help fund an expansion. That created some problems. The founders continued to work at the farm, but the new partners held jobs elsewhere and could make it out there only a few hours a week. That made it difficult for the owners to discuss topics such as tax planning, marketing budgets, and which crops were ready for harvest. “It was almost impossible to get everyone together on a regular basis,” says Rick Dietz, one of the new partners.
Things changed last summer, when the owners began using Web-based collaboration software that allows them to create a central repository for information.
Read more at Inc. Magazine.
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