Category Archives: Uncategorized

Happy Birthday to Ya !

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In 1999 I was lucky enough to visit New Orleans for a business conference. Of course I had a tremendous time, visiting all the tourist sites and  lapping up the nightlife in the French Quarter. The drink was flowing, the music eminated from every bar blending together in a heady mixture of jazz and blues, the mood was exuberant, the colours vibrant, the women beautiful and the food was great too:- Creole Crayfish, Jumbalaya, fresh lobster and spicy chicken.

In the cold light of day more disturbing things were apparent. There was a great deal of poverty outside the tourist areas and the realization that all, and I mean all, of the serving staff were black. The Hotel maids, the shop assistants, the cleaning staff, the refuse workers, all of them were black. In contrast the majority of the hotel guests including myself were white. This was the most racially divided society I had ever been in.

The next moring I was reflecting on this over breakfast when my thoughts were interrupted by 3 loud cracks.  Startled I turned to see a large white man banging his ashtray on the table and demading “S-U-G-A-R” as his coffee was served by the timid black waitress. I have never tasted so much bile in such a sweet word.

On my way home I passed through the huge hub of Atlanta and amid the drkinghustle and bustle I came across a memorial to Dr Martin Luther King Jr and read about that great man and the sacrifices he made for freedom and equality.

troopers-NOLSeveral years later in 2005 I watched in horror as Katrina devastated New Orleans. What seemed worse was that it took the Federal Government 3 days to respond while the poverty stricken people of Loiusiana, the vast majority being black, fought for survival amid the rising tide and chaos. The area was like a Third World country, not The United States of America.

When the state troopers eventually arrived they seemed more intent in shooting looters than helping people.

In 2009 I watched President Obamas inaugration intently.  One particular passage resonated strongly:-

“This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”

The tears which rolled down my cheek were warm and salty. I was reminded of Crayfish and Lobster and Jazz.

Happy Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day America !

Home of the brave, Land of the Free, and the Not So Free.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

UKIP plans to ban controversial garment….

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nigelfarageToday, following on from announcing their intention to ban the controversial muslim  Burkha, Nigel Farage announced UKIP’s intention to ban the traditional Scottish kilt !

Interviewed on Scottish Television earlier today Mr Farage, ex leader of UKIP, stated the Party’s aims:-

” Scottish men have been forced by their wives to wear this ridiculous garment for decades. It is completely ludicrous that men in one part of the United Kingdom are obliged to wear this skirt in the bitter cold of winter whereas their Souhern counterparts are under no such obligation…..”

“If elected UKIP will ban the wearing of the Scottish kilt in all parts of the kiltUnited Kingdom…”

The comments caused outrage in Scotland and is likely to be debated in the Scottish parliament next week.

A recent Mori poll gave UKIP 0.017 % of the U.K vote.

Now we’re Insourcing……………………

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reengineeringFriday’s News that Automotive component supplier Bosch is closing its plant in South Wales and moving manufacturing to Hungary was grim news for employees.

However, this action is actually bucking the latest trend.

A recent survey by manufacturing group EEF revealed that one in seven companies had moved manufacturing back to the U.K in the last 2 years.

Nearly seven in ten agreed that the U.K was now a competitive place for manufacturing.

The falling price of sterling, increased cost of freight, repeated quality concerns and time to market issues have combined to make the U.K increasingly attractive.

The biggest issue is in obtaining personnel with the knowledge and skills required to establish successful manufacturing lines.

This is being addressed by hiring interims with the experience to deliver results by ‘hitting the ground running’

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

The real cost of time to market delays….

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p4Anyone involved in New Product Introduction (NPI) knows how critical time to market is but do they know how to quantify it?

If a product has a predicted lifecycle of x years the assumption must be made that sales will cease x years after product launch i.e at product “death”.

If the launch date is delayed by 2 months the original product “death” should remain the same. Any product will only be viable until its successor is released by its originator or the competition. The result is a loss of 2 months of sales which will have a real monetary value. This is a perfectly reasonable proposition as there is no logic in assuming that the competitors next product will be late just because yours is !

This enables us to quantify project delays in terms of real dollars. Great news for Senior Management but also good news for the project manager as it allows us to justify additional project resource or equipment in order to meet the original project timescales.

Remember – if your Senior Management has not provided the resource you budgeted for to bring the project in on time quantifying time to market losses in monetary terms is a great leveraging tool.

Are your objectives SMART ? ………….

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smartteamIt is essential, when starting a project, that the team fully understands what the Objective is. This might sound obvious but is also something which is often overlooked. Sometimes the team is formed and the project kicked off without any clear statement about the Objective of the project. Consequently different Team members have different views on what the Objective is and this inevitably leads to unnecessary conflict and wasted effort.

The time to set Objectives is during the Storming phase of Team formation. During this period the Objective may be “kicked around” and debated until a consensus is found. This will happen at the beginning of the Norming phase. The team leader provides a pivotal role in agreeing objectives by setting the scene and putting things in context.

Objectives should be S.M.A.R.T:-

Specific.

Objectives need to be specific. They need to stipulate what is required, why it is required, when is it required & by whom.
The more Specific you can be about the Objective the greater your chance of success.

Measurable.

Objectives have to be measurable so you can track progress towards your goal. Establish suitable charts which track progress in a clear way.

Aggresive

Objectives MUST be Aggresive; not in a violent way (of course) but in a challenging way. They should be set such that they stretch the capabilities of the team in terms of performance and timescales.

Realistic.

Objectives MUST be Realistic. The setting of Objectives beyond the technical competence of the team or outside of its political remit will only lead to disappointment & poor morale. Also Objectives should not be too lax otherwise the Team will not be motivated and the outcome may not be favourable with external competitors.

Targets

Performance Objectives should be published & measured against targets.

SMART Objectives lead to SMART Performance !

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

So what’s the plan..?………….

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project-management-team

Once the Project Objectives are defined the next stage is Project Planning.

The effort which is put into the project planning stage will determine how smoothly and effectively the project runs and the better the chance of the Objectives being delivered on time.

The project manager normally uses a tool such as Microsoft Project Manager and the most common form of layout is the Gannt chart. Take a look at this for a detailed explanation:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gannt_Chart

The project is broken down into a Work Breakdown Structure which lists the main elements of the project. Each element is then broken down into a number of tasks and sub-tasks. Some of these are interdependent and need to be linked i.e one task cannot be started until the other is completed.

Any tasks which can be done in parallel to others are arranged as such and the idea is that the overall project timescale is minimized taking into account the resource available. This takes a lot of effort and it is likely that a number of iterations will be required. It is vital that each person responsible for a particular task is aware of the plan and has “bought in to it” i.e they agree with the timescales and with their responsibility to deliver a particular task. All of this relies on the PM’s negotiating skills. The plan should be reviewed by peers and management to ensure that it is as representative as possible. It should also have a sponsor who is a senior manager in the organization in case of any resource conflicts.

The overall length of the project is determined by the CRITICAL PATH – the tasks which have to follow on from each other from the start of the project to the end. If any one of these interdependent tasks takes longer than planned the project will overrun. If any can be shortened the overall project timescales may be shortened or another parallel task may then become part of the CRITICAL PATH. This will be easier understood by using a tool such as Microsoft Project and altering the duration of some of the key tasks on the critical path.

Some Common mistakes when constructing project plans:-

• In an effort to get the project moving not enough effort is put into planning – proper planning will save a lot of wasted effort later on.

• Resource is allocated without agreement of the nominee or their manager – people need to “buy in” to the project timescales.

• Under commercial pressure timescales are agreed which are not viable – the project manager needs to be resilient and highlight the risks, escalating to senior management if necessary.

• Tasks are poorly defined and ambiguous – they need to be broken down into manageable chunks and to be specific.

• The project progresses but the plan is not updated on a regular basis leading to unpleasant shocks when delays are highlighted – the project plan must be updated regularly (at least weekly) and published widely.

A well defined and structured project plan will identify resource and timescales enabling tasks to be completed on time and the project objectives delivered to expectations.

Best laid plans of mice and men aft gan agley – Robert Burns.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Its a risky business…..

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transparentOnce the plan is in place & agreed the project then moves into the execution phase. This is when things really start happening and, if the planning has been done properly, things should proceed according to plan – right ?……Wrong !!

No matter how good the planning, in reality, things rarely proceed to plan. This is where the skills of the Project Manager come into play.

Each stage of the plan will have obstacles, some minor and some major, which need to be overcome in order for the plan to proceed. These obstacles may be referred to as RISKS and it is part of the Project Managers role to identify those risks, quantify them and mitigate against them.

It is useful to create a Risk Management log (normally in spreadsheet form) which should have the following headers as minimum:-

RISK , MITIGATION,  EXPIRY DATE,  SEVERITY,  TREND

Other factors may also be tracked but the principal is to log all the risks in severity order so that they may be prioritised and addressed accordingly. This should be done by the team and the results published to the wider business so that everyone is aware of the situation. The Risk log should be reviewed periodically and any new risks added. Any which are deemed closed will be marked as such.

So, by addressing the project risks in a structured way their impact may be minimized and the project kept on track.

If the Critical path is extended at any point the whole project delivery will be impacted so the structure of the plan should be reviewed to see if any tasks may be shortened to pull in the overall timescale.

If this is not possible then the end customer (external or internal) must be informed of the change to delivery date so that their expectations are not adverse to reality. This may cause some short term pain but it is always better to get the bad news out early if the alternatives have been exhausted.
Remember:-

all projects have risks, its how you manage them which counts.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Want performing ?…… you need storming…..

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argumentEver noticed that, in teams, there are always arguments & some individuals always seem to disagree with everyone else ?
This is perfectly normal and studies have shown that Teams go through a number of key phases. In fact, in order to operate effectively, successful teams MUST go through these key phases before they can function effectively. Bruce Tuckman described this phenomenon in 1965.

Forming – this is where the team is chosen and first comes together, there is little consensus and the Leader must set direction.

Storming – this phase may be very disconcerting to the leader if she is not aware of the Psychology at play. During this stage team members vie for positions, opinions will be strongly expressed, leadership may be challenged – expect a rocky ride. It is however ESSENTIAL that this phase of the process is negotiated and all views aired. The Team Leader MUST seek the opinion of less vocal members of the group who may have important points to raise but may find it less easy to come forward and express their view. This is when all the dirty linen is washed in public.

Norming – this phase is a successor to the first two. This is where a consensus is agreed. Everyone has had their say, got it off their chest and at this point OBJECTIVES should be set for the whole team. I will devote a separate topic to objective setting but they must be clearly expressed, written down and concise. The objectives will be born from the Storming process.

Performing – with a clear set of objectives in place around which the whole team agrees then real progress can be made. This is the performing stage for the team. This doesn’t mean that no one should disagree with anyone else but the whole team should have bought into the agreed objectives and should be heading in the same direction.

If the Storming phase is not allowed to run its course and all views aired then discontent will rumble on into the following phases & factions will form affecting the overall performance of the team.

Recognition of the Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing stages of Team performance allows the leader to control and direct the final outcome leading to a successful and productive team.

If you want Performing you’ve got to have Storming !!!!

chris@projectsguru.co.uk
www.projectsguru.co.uk

In the bleak midwinter……

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winter 006

In around 5 months time the people of the U.K will go to the polls to elect the Government for the next parliamentary term.

Over the last 13 years of Labour government manufacturing output has declined dramatically from around 20 % of GDP to around 11% today.

The Economy has become grossly inbalanced in favour of the Financial Services and Property sectors. This has proved disastrous and has contributed to the deepest recession we have seen in a lifetime.

To rebuild a robust economy we need a mixed economy in which manufacturing plays a major and significant part.

It’s easy to be cynical about Political parties but it’s interesting to visit the main parties websites to find out what their policies are towards the Economy and manufacturing in particular.

You may be surprised by what you find.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Fancy a change ?……….

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managingchange

If your Organization is embarking on a major change program the methods you adopt to bring about the change will determine the level of success achieved.

The change management process is well defined and comprises the following key stages:-

• Identify the key thing which needs changing – the change object.

• Identify the key reasons for change.

• Communicate the change.

• Force Field Analysis, identifying the forces for and against change.

• The change process.

• Freeze the change.

Chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk