Monthly Archives: May 2011

Project Management Rapture….#in…#pmot

Posted on by

RaptureI knew exactly how Reverend Harold Camping felt on Saturday when his end of the world prediction (known as “The Rapture”) failed to transpire.

I’ve been there, oh yes I’ve been there; not predicting the end of the world of course, but forecasting a key project milestone to a customer. Tracking progress carefully and communicating regularly and what happens……a project bananna skin sneaks under the sole of my foot and all hell breaks loose, my project milestone is suddenly hoofed into the future and I’m left in front of the customer with egg, not only on my face, but dribbling down my shirt as well.

Of course I always go back to the customer offering 3 options and making every endeavour to minimize the delay but…..it’s never the same.

Like so many of the good Reverends followers who sold their houses, or spent their life savings prior to “Rapture” the Customer inevitably feels cheesed off to say the least.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Follow projectsguru on Twitter

View Chris Robinson's profile on LinkedIn

; Keep up to date by becoming a  facebook
fan

project managers and business consultants

Return of The Apprentice….#pmot…#in…#entrepreneur

Posted on by

sugarThere are always plenty of laughs to be had in BBC’s “The Apprentice” – that’s what its all about after all, rather than a serious look at innovation or
entrepreneurship, it revolves around getting a bunch of young (naive) wannabes together who are generally arrogant, self opinionated and full of it; falling over themselves to look even dafter than they are in reality (all helped by clever editing of course)

Sir Alan hams it up, pontificating in cockney barrow boy English whilst trying not to fall off the box he has to place on his chair in order not to look too short.

Each task has a “project manager” – which has probably done more to damage the profession than anything else, most of the prats on the show probably think a Gantt is a term of abuse.

The funniest bit last night was when Sir Alan referred to himself as an “electronics expert….who sees things other people cannot see..”

Hmmmmm….perhaps he was referring to Amstrad’s “emailer” phone.amstrad-emailer
Oh Yes the famous emailer phone, widely used by Sir Alan’s receptionist to
usher in the hapless competitors.

Doesn’t every home have one ?

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Follow projectsguru on Twitter

View Chris Robinson's profile on LinkedIn

; Keep up to date by becoming a  facebook
fan

project managers and business consultants

The importance of bin on message #pmot #in

Posted on by

Obama2 Whatever the rights or wrongs of the killing of Osama Bin Laden the message delivered surrounding his dispatch was certainly confusing to say the least.

First he died in a vicious firefight, next he was unarmed.

He used his wife as a human shield, then it was her who leaped in front of him!

The Whitehouse staff watched every moment of the assault live, then…… oh no they didn’t, they only watched the first couple of minutes before transmission was lost ! etc etc etc etc

“Jeeeezzzzzz! can’t these guys get anything right? ” millions around the world screamed at their TV’s.

And this is just the kind of mixed messages we deliver to our exasperated customers every day of the week. First we promise delivery on a certain date, then we go back and revise it, then someone else tells them a different story, its hardly any wonder that customers get fed up and go elsewhere.

So here are some simple tips to make sure your organization is on message for your customers:-

1) Where possible have one direct contact per customer, if this is not feasible have one contact for engineering issues, another for commercial etc.

2) Before giving a customer a key milestone make sure the project plan is fully developed and includes some contingency to allow for risk.

3) If events transpire to affect a key customer milestone make sure every option is explored to pull back on track  before going back to the customer with the bad news.

4) If a major milestone is affected this should be communicated face to face.

5) Always give the customer a series of alternative options, so they can choose the best for them.

Keeping the customer on message is an essential part of managing customer relations and ensuring steady, repeat business.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Follow projectsguru on Twitter

View Chris Robinson's profile on LinkedIn

; Keep up to date by becoming a  facebook
fan

project managers and business consultants

Lost opportunity cost…..#pmot…#in

Posted on by

Bizplan03

In the last post we discussed risk aversion. One of the pitfalls of being too risk averse is lost opportunity cost.

In New Product Development Project Managers constantly balance time to market with product quality, resource management, project costs & a host of other competing factors.

In an effort to develop the perfect product with maximum process capability and meeting 100% customer satisfaction the real cost of lost opportunity is often missed.

Consider a product which on release will generate, on average,  $100,000 profit a month for 12 months. If the product release is delayed by 1 month the lost opportunity cost can be estimated as $100,000. What should be  emphasised is that this amount will NEVER be recovered. If the product lifecycle is estimated as being 12 months depending on the competition then releasing the product 1 month late reduces the lifecycle to 11 months.

If that lost $100,000 was invested at a compound rate of 5% per year over ten years it would be worth $163,000 !

So here are some tips to minimize lost opportunity cost:-

1) Invest in the project at the front end, providing ample resource and support.

2) Fix the product spec before the end of the design phase.

3) 100% perfection is great but 95% is normally good enough for most customers.

4) Make it easy for engineers by setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Aggressive, Realistic, Timely) targets.

5) Publicise Project Milestone targets.

6) Communicate Lost Opportunity Costs.

chris@projectsguru.co.uk

www.projectsguru.co.uk

Follow projectsguru on Twitter


View Chris Robinson's profile on LinkedIn

; Keep up to date by becoming a  facebook
fan

project managers and business consultants