Sixty-third excerpt from 'Twelve Towers'

          That night, Gwilym had an epiphany for his human resource problem. The next day, once the crew was working hard, he went back into the village and purchased some cheap, colored cloth and a pair of spring scissors.

          He set about cutting this cloth into many small squares, each about an inch square. Then he took some paper and lined it like they had yesterday with axes showing dates on the x axis and number of people on the y axis. Each week on the x-axis and each half person on the y axis was one inch long. He made one for each skill. Then he called Fred in.

          Gwilym explained his idea to Fred. “Each one of these colored squares indicates half a person of a particular skill working for a week.” He placed two on top of each other. “This represents a whole person working for a week. We place this on the chart and we can see what we need given the current schedule. Then, when we change the schedule, we move the pieces of cloth around to make sure we don’t overload our people.”

          Fred’s eyes grew wide as he understood, and the two men worked together, placing squares, adjusting the schedule, moving squares, sometimes cutting them further down to indicate a quarter person on even vertically to indicate someone working for a day or two rather than for a week. Within a few hours they were done. They had reached a point where the schedule could be met without stretching resources anywhere. There were a few occasions when they would have to bring on some extra laborers and other occasions when work off the critical path would have to sit until there was a lull in other activities. But their schedule was doable now and the men would have plenty of warning when they could take time off the project and work their fields.

          During dinner they stitched the cloth pieces to the paper. Then Fred redid the calendar and placed it on the wall where every member of the team could see it. As the crew left the job-site at the end of the day, Gwilym showed it to them. Each crew member followed their plan on the calendar and took note of the days they would be expected to leave the project.

          “How good are you at predicting de future, Gwilym?” asked Tollemache.

          “The schedule should be pretty accurate for the next few weeks. Then things will happen that will change the predictions but I will keep this calendar up-to-date. Keep checking back to see how things will change. If you have plans that cannot be changed due to your farm, it becomes my problem.”

          The men nodded and walked off home. “What do tha call this tool, Gwilym?”

“Resource planning. No. There will be other plans we need for resources like stone and wood. How about Human Resource Plan? Yes. I like that. Are you putting it in your book?”

          “Aye, Gwilym. The song was getting too hard to rhyme. Would you like to see it?”

Gwilym nodded and Fred showed him the book. He had a page in the front that titled all the tools and each page that followed described the tools in detail. So far, the title page had the following entries:

          Charter

          Stakeholder List

          Project Management Plan

          Requirements

          Scope

          Work Breakdown Structure

          Activities

          Activity Sequence

          Activity Resource

          Activity Duration

          Schedule

          Activity Costs

          Budget

          Human Resource Plan

          Gwilym smiled and shook his head. “Fourteen elements to planning a project! And I still think we’re missing some things. What else can you think of, Fred?”

          “It would be nice to plan th’bad things that seem to happen on every project, th’things that always seem to go wrong.”

          “I’m not sure if that’s possible, but it bears thinking about. What about the stakeholders? We identified them early and came up with a list of them. What are we going to do about them? How are we going to tell them about the project?”

          “I like these matrixes. Why don’t I create one for this, too.”

          Fred listed the stakeholders of this project on the x axis and the different communications on the y axis. Project plan, Calendar, Schedule, Budget. “What else, Gwilym?”

          “We should have regular meetings with the team to see how things are going. Call them Status Meetings. We should put out Progress Reports for people like Sir Kay to see. He’ll also want reporting on budget.”

	Sir Kay	King Arthur	Euros	Mostyn.	Nantlais	Merlin	Tollemache	Project Team	Quarry	Sawmill	Fred’s Project Notebook
Project Plan	I	I					I	I	I	I	W
Charter	I	I					I	I			W
Status Reports							W	W	W	W	W
Status Meeting Minutes							W	W	W	W	W
Budget	Q	Q	Q								Q
Calendar							D	D	W	W	M
Requirements	I	I		I	I	I	I	I	I	I	I
Progress Reports	Q						W	W			W
Issue/Problem Log	Q						W	W			W
Contracts	I		I				I		I	I	I

           

          Fred and Gwilym decided how often people would get information and placed notes at the intersection in the matrix. I for as issued, W for weekly, M for monthly, Q for Quarterly.

          Fred added the Communications Plan to his Project Management Plan book and Gwilym followed the plan for all their project information.

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

Successful Pareto Analysis for Greenhouse gas leakage

Shortly after President Obama was elected, he decreed that all Federal Agencies measure the amount of greenhouse gases they use and work to reduce this number. A class example: "That which gets measured, gets improved."

At the Department of Energy, they found that Sulfur Hexafluoride, SF6, was the biggest culprit since it had 24,000 times the effect on the atmosphere as CO2. By going after leaks of this gas, used to insulate high voltage experimental machines, they were able to reduce leaks by half and take the equivalent of 200,000 cars off the road. They will continue to go after the worst culprits in classic Pareto style.

Dear PM Advisor. June 24, 2013

Dear PM Advisor,

How do I pick a sponsor?

Going it alone in Maryland

Dear Going it,

If you are a member of senior staff, overseeing all the company's projects, you should use the following criteria taken right out of the PMBOK:

1. Provides the project budget
2. Spokesperson to higher levels of management
3. Lead the project from engagement to authorization
4. Helps develop scope and charter
5. Serves as escalation path
6. Authorizes changes to scope, phase-end reviews

Older versions of the PMBOK asked that the sponsor be External to the project. I still think this has its advantages to the organization in that highly placed people do not unfairly wield their influence to further the interests of bad projects that are their pets. 

To sum up the requirements, the sponsor is someone high in the organization who wants the project to succeed and will assist the Project Manager in her efforts. 

However, since most of my readers are Project Managers, not Senior Staff, I'm going to assume that your question comes from one of us. How does a Project Manager pick a Sponsor?

All of the previous criteria still apply. However, you want your project to succeed regardless of its effect on the other projects in the company. So you want someone who does consider this their 'pet' project. Perhaps it is the person who conceived of this project in the first place. Perhaps they will be the eventual customer of the result of the project. Having that person as your sponsor will really help you succeed. 

Good luck,

PM Advisor

Send your questions to bfieggen@gmail.com

New App provides Malibu beach access

Monica Almeida/The New York Times

For years the rich of Malibu have been illegally blocking beach access to the public by refusing to open up access ways and gating off those that exist. According to this recent article: There are 17 public access ways to the Malibu coastline. Under state law, there should be more than 100. 
Coming from a country (Australia) and a state (Oregon) where beach access is a public right and expectation I am shocked by this behavior. 

There has been a way to find the few gates that work by buying a 300 page guide for $25. Finally technology has come to the rescue. For $2, one can buy an app that shows all the secrets. This includes such gems as which garage doors and No Parking signs are fake. 

The home-owners protest that there are no facilities to service these 'interlopers' but I bet they fight the installation of bathrooms and garbage cans on 'their' beaches. I say we all get this app and raid their beaches and show them that according to California law, they must provide access. Who's with me? 

Dear PM Advisor. June 17, 2013

Dear PM Advisor,

I look at the way you plan projects and you have a lot of repeating activities. For every document you create you ask that the WBS read: Draft, review, edit, review edit, approve. Are you serious? 

Skeptical in Delaware

Dear Skeptical,

When you plan to drive anywhere, do you assume you'll be able to drive the speed limit the whole way, even on on-ramps and turning corners? Do you plan on leaving your driveway at full speed and hitting only green lights? If so, go ahead and plan on creating documents and having them approved immediately. The rest of us who live in a place called 'The Real World' will continue to plan our projects based on reality.

The number of rounds of review you typically require to get a document to the point of being approved is what you should place in your Work Breakdown Structure. Each of these activities must be planned for, someone must take responsibility for them and they must appear in the schedule. If not, you are left with two options, both of them bad:

1. Plan on every document being approved immediately after drafting
2. Write more general activities like: 'Complete document A'

The first option guarantees you will be delayed on your project as each activity comes in late.

The second option leaves you with fingers pointing between the drafter and reviewer of the document as to who is responsible for its delay. 

Good luck,

PM Advisor

Send your questions to bfieggen@gmail.com

Sixty-second excerpt from 'Twelve Towers'

          The days grew warmer as summer advanced and Bleddyn, Jac and Llawen spent a lot of time on the beach, playing in the coarse, pebbly sand and shallows. One day there were hundreds of small, hard crescent-shaped jellyfish washed up on shore. Bleddyn experimented with the back of his hand to ensure that they did not sting then they all started throwing these at each other. They each built a deep hole in the sand that they called forts and stockpiled scores of jellyfish in each and fought a war.

          Their shrieks brought out some of the neighborhood children who joined the battle, jumping in the holes and forming three warring armies. After they tired themselves out, they gathered wood and built a bonfire on the beach. They sat around it telling stories. Bleddyn related some of the adventures he had transcribed. The girl sitting next to him was excited with his tale, huddling against him at the scary parts, laughing out loud at the funny parts and crying when the story became tragic.

          After supper, they all agreed to return here for more of Bleddyn’s stories. When Bleddyn asked his father for permission he was given a grilling. “Who are these children? How do you know them? Who are their parents?” He threatened to come with Bleddyn, but the boy begged his father and Gwilym, remembering his own youth, decided not to embarrass the child. “But come back home before 11. You know enough about the stars to know when that it, right?”

          “Yes, Da. The moon should be up for an hour by then tonight.”

          “Good! If you’re any later, I’ll come and get you.”

          “What about us, Da?” asked the twins.

          “Sorry lads, but you’re not old enough to be invited. When you’re older you can have gatherings like that.”

          Bleddyn returned right after his supper. He crossed the river and then walked on the raised track to the dunes. Finding he was the first one there, he built up the fire and gathered wood for burning and logs for sitting on. Others joined him in this strenuous task. As night fell, Bleddyn started to relate the stories of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. He held them all in thrall. He was thrilled whenever the girl at his side, Sunngifu, brushed against him, clutched his arm and once, rubbed against his side with her clothed breast.

Bleddyn finished his story and told the rest that he had to go. They laughed at him and called him a baby. He was embarrassed but covered his anxiety by saying, “Have you seen the size of my father? Would you want to go against his will?”

          The boys all shuddered and acted scared. Bleddyn felt sick inside about this because his father had never threatened him, let alone hit him. He felt that he was giving the village children the wrong impression about his father. But it got him out of this situation so he let it go. Sunngifu said she should go too, so they walked together from the beach. Once out of the firelight, she reached for his hand.

          “I like you, Bleddyn” she said. “You tell good stories and you are handsome. Will you kiss me?”

Bleddyn was mortified. She was a pretty girl but must have been at least 16. Bleddyn had never kissed a girl and had no idea how to go about it. He had seen his father and mother kiss before and had watched other children experiment but he was scared. Sunngifu was almost his height so he stopped and put his hands around her waist. He felt, for the first time,

Shark Tank helps entrepreneurs in interesting ways

When my friends from Coffee Joulies appeared on 'Shark Tank' their sales jumped so high that they are still having trouble filling orders months after the show airing. The millions of viewers of Shark Tank provides tons of free publicity. So why would any of the entrepreneurs bother taking the tough deals offered by the Sharks?

Turns out they have to give up their company either way. According to this recent NY Times article, The standard appearance contract entitles the show’s producers and ABC to 5 percent of the company or 2 percent of future royalties, regardless of whether a deal materializes with a shark. That's quite a deal for ABC and Mark Burnett. In addition to a relatively cheap show to produce, (I wonder if they have to pay the sharks to appear) they get a revenue stream from all these companies whose products get a quick burst of publicity.