Dear PM Advisor. March 4th, 2013

Dear PM Advisor,

I'm sitting for my PMP test soon and can't get straight which processes fit into the Execution group and which in Monitoring and Controlling. I've been a PM for a long time and know they both happen at the same time. But PMI want's you to know the difference. Do you have any hints for getting these questions right? I've taken a few practice tests and keep getting them mixed up. 

Executioner in Branchburg, NJ.

Dear Executioner,

I like to use homonyms to help me remember things like this. In this case, I remember that Measure starts with an M just like Monitor. So if the process includes some kind of measurement, it must fit in the Monitoring and Controlling group. You have to Measure in order to Report Performance or Verify Scope so it must be in this group. The other word is Control and that encompasses all the other processes like Control Costs, Schedule and Scope.

Execution consists of doing the work you planned in the previous phase. Monitoring and Controlling consists of Measuring the output of that work and Controlling the constraints. Of the six constraints on any project: Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Resources and Risk, all but Resources have a Control Process in this group. I guess the PMI realized there is no controlling of resources.

So look for any aspect of Measurement within the tools used or the word Control within the process and you can be sure that the work falls in the Monitoring and Controlling Group. Otherwise, you are just doing the work, Executing.


Good luck,

PM Advisor

Send your questions to bfieggen@gmail.com

French 'Workers'

I laughed out loud when reading this recent article about French workers.


An American executive described French workers to union representatives as such: “The French work force gets paid high wages but works only three hours. They have one hour for their breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three.”

The union reps simply laughed and said, "That's the French way!"

“You can keep your so-called workers,” he wrote. “Titan is not interested in the Amiens factory.”

While this attitude seems funny to Americans, the French 35-hour work week and 17 week annual vacations make France non-competitive in the global market. France is doomed to follow Greece and Spain into default. Their average citizens scoff at paying taxes while Hollande is raising rates to 75% for those earning more than a million Euros a year.

It's time for the French to take a page from the Germans. Work hard, pay your taxes and watch your country thrive. If they continue with the status quo they will have austerity shoved down their throats by the solvent European countries.

Clever project to block illegal tunnels

A Palestinian clearing a tunnel of sewage in Rafah, between Egypt and the southern Gaza StripBy FARES AKRAM and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK  Published: February 20, 2013

For centuries, governments have fought against those trying to tunnel in or out of their installations. Whether it was sappers trying to tunnels under castles to knock down walls, prisoners escaping prison camps or drug smugglers sneaking into the US, there has been a one-upmanship battle between the tunnelers and those detecting them.

The latest battleground has been the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza used to smuggle weapons into this dangerous area. The Egyptians have come up with a simple but effective measure to fight them: Raw Sewage. Simple, but effective.

Dear PM Advisor. February 25, 2013

Dear PM Advisor,

What's the difference between Free Float and Total Float? 

Floater in New York, NY

Dear Floater,

I assume you know what float is. This is also known as slack, the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the overall end-date of the project. Free Float is similar in that it is the amount of time an activity can be delayed without delaying the next activity.

American Eagle Group describes the difference quite well in this post. Look at the picture they use:

Notice that free float can only occur at the end of a series of non-critical path activities.

For those who love math, here are the formulae for Total Float and Free Float:

Total Float = LS - ES  or  LF - EF
Free Float = ESs - EFp - lag  (Where ESs means Early Start of the successor activity. EFp means Early Finish of the Predecessor activity)

(By the way, this last formula only works if you use the zero day method for calculating ES and EF. Otherwise you get the number 1 for Free Float on every activity.)

Looking at the network diagram above, you can see that total float is 0 for the critical path and 11 for activities C, D and E. Any time you delay one of these tasks, you eat up some of that Total Float.

Since you can start D right after C, even if C is delayed, there is no Free Float on C. Same reason there is no Free Float on D. But since you have to wait for Activity G to complete before you can start Activity H there is float on Activity E unless C, D and E delay more than 11 days. So the Free Float only appears on the last activity of this chain.

Good luck,

PM Advisor

Send your questions to bfieggen@gmail.com

Fifty-fourth excerpt from 'Twelve Towers'

He woke to the sound of someone clambering up the side of the capstone. Morning light shone on him. He covered himself with his clothes just before Bleddyn’s head appeared. “Go back down son. Wait until I can help you up so that you are safe. It’s dangerous to climb this by yourself.”

Bleddyn’s head dropped out of sight. Gwilym dressed and leaned over the side to give his hand to his son. “Were you comfortable here last night, Da?” he asked, looking around at the stone and his father.

“I slept like the dead,” replied Gwilym. “We should be able to see Sir Kay’s party arrive from up here. Would you like to be the watchman while I make sure everything is in order below?”

Bleddyn said he’d love to and promised not to come down until his father was there to assist him.

Gwilym walked through the tower one last time, cleaning up some last minute things and gathered his crew for a final speech. Along the way he had found no trace of Grainne. Infuriating woman!

Sir Kay and his three assistants arrived and inspected the site. Gwilym made a point, this time, of getting to know who these three were. The one who inspected the rune-stones that capped each structure was called Mostyn. He was close-lipped about the meaning of the runes or the origins of the stones. “I come only to see that they are installed correctly.”

Gwilym paused at this. “The stones and the towers are square, yet the runes on them have a design that can be read in one direction. Have I been turning them the correct way?”

“Of course you have,” replied Mostyn.

“Yet I put no thought into the direction when I placed them. Are they all facing the east? No, that’s impossible, the other towers were all facing off the compass points due to the wind or the angle of the town walls.”

“Which way did the rune face at Huish?”

“I turned the tower to avoid the prevailing wind which comes from slightly north of the west. Then I placed the rune so that when you looked at it you were facing north of northwest. Why that way? Because it was closest to north?”

“And Airmyn?”

“There the wind came down the river so I turned that tower almost completely to the north. But I faced the rune so that looking at it you were facing away from the river, almost due south.”

“Londinium?”

“I had to follow the angle of the tower which was lined up with the city walls and they were lined up with the bend in the river. The rune faced to the northwest.”

“And this one faces east. You were perfect.”

Gwilym thought for a moment, then his furrowed brow cleared. “They are all facing toward the next tower! I’m building my next tower due east of here.”

Mostyn smiled and continued tracing the designs of the rune on his paper.

Nantlais was the name of the man who checked the structure of Gwilym’s towers. He was in deep discussions with Arthfael when Gwilym arrived. They were talking about the recent attack by the Eirish on the castle walls and how the projecting tower would have made their jobs easier. He stopped to ask Gwilym a question. “You incorporated the castle stones into the walls by building them at the same time. That makes both structures stronger. Was that your intention?”

“Yes. Just as you never stack stones directly on top of each other when building a wall, I didn’t want to end the wall flush with the tower, I wanted to continue the pattern.”

“Good work. And make sure all future towers project beyond walls. Did you notice how that can help during the attack?”

Sir Kay was going over the accounts of this tower with Euros.

“You’ve done good work here again Gwilym. The tower will stand forever. Yet once again the costs were higher than planned. I thought you were going to take care of that.”

Gwilym was prepared for this question. “In order to meet the schedule I had to keep men around whose work wasn’t needed right then. I had them doing other work to speed up those activities but it wasn’t the most efficient use of their time. ”

“Couldn’t you have predicted this?” Sir Kay asked.

“We planned for the most likely scenario. Not the most optimistic or pessimistic. So the costs were mostly in line.”

“And yet you come asking me for more money. Next tower I want you to ask for the right amount the first time.”

“That may mean returning to you for the correct amount after we have planned the project.”

“Do so.”

“And the next tower is in the east?”

Kay gave Gwilym a sharp look. “Salthouse, on the east coast. It is a larger tower and requires a bit of preparation. You had better start there by next month.”

“What news of Palomides?”

“He has paid recompense for the damage he did in Huish.”

“Has he been told to leave off his intentions to steal from me?”

“He claims you stole the book from his house. If this were a dispute between two knights, you would fight it out and God would reward the knight telling the truth. Since you are no knight, that would be an unfair fight. I choose not to tell Palomides where you are.”

Viviane looked up from the well. “Their relationship is getting strained.”

“She cannot use that power against him anymore.”

“Grainne is impatient, it is her curse.”

“The last tower must be completed with love or the spell won’t work. Foster out her oldest.”

“She will be devastated.”

“She will still have the second son. Use it as a threat to make her do things right.”

“We still need her when the spell is done. This isn’t her last act. I’m still grooming her.”

“The spell is more important than her future. Keep her happy if you can but not at the cost of the spell.”

To read the entire first draft in one shot, click here:

Are US workers spending too much time on the job?

Far be it for me to recommend US workers emulate the French who work 30 hours a week and have annual 17 week vacations but perhaps we are working too hard. The following two graphs from a recent New York Times article put things into perspective for me.

Why are we one of only eight countries that don't offer paid maternity leave? Being in the same club as Suriname and Liberia doesn't speak well for this country.

Recent NY Times article

And our work week hasn't dropped much along with the prosperity brought by the second half of the 20th century. Even the Japanese are working less than we are.

Chinese Army hacking US infrastructure

The Chinese are becoming more aggressive in their computer attacks on the US. With attacks on major newspapers uncovered and power grids being pinged by the Chinese military we are looking vulnerable.

From a recent NY Times article: 

It makes me wonder why we allow computers to control the power grid to the extent that they do now. If we want to make our country less vulnerable, wouldn't it be smarter to dumb down these grids? After all, didn't we have power grids fifty years ago? Maybe they weren't as efficient as they are now with the networking. Still, how about a back-up system that takes the grids off-line and allows them to run, albeit slightly less efficiently when they perceive they are under cyber-attack?

Seems like a way to stay a little safer in a dangerous world.