Microsoft® Project Standard 2002 is the world's leading project management program. Now, Microsoft Project Standard makes it easier than ever to manage schedules and resources, communicate project status, and report project information. With more intuitive tools and built-in project management assistance, you'll get productive quickly -- even novices can start project planning and reporting immediately. Microsoft Project has the fundamental project management features that you need to stay informed, so projects stay on track and within budget.

Instructor

Pamela J. Perdue, CRCM is a Senior Assistant Examiner with the Federal Reserve System. Prior to joining the Fed, she was founder and CEO of a management consulting firm. Her fifteen-plus years of experience in corporate planning, project management, and teaching adult learners means you will receive competent, relevant instruction.

This lesson covers the initial steps in determining a project plan

An effective sequence for project planning steps

The importance of communication among the project team

How to select the best decision-makers

How to assess and document project workflow

Techniques for holding useful meetings

Follow-up and tracking skills to manage project completion

Identify and overcome obstacles to a project's success

Strategies for staying on time and on budget during troubled times

Using technology tools to assist in project management

Determine the process

Are you a manager in desperate need of simplifying your life? Maybe you're new to the workplace, aspiring to the coveted title of "manager." Either way, you may be surprised at what you can learn from one another. So hit the message boards and tell us about yourself. Share your motivations for taking the course. What kinds of projects are you involved with? Remember: help and camaraderie are as close as your keyboard.

Mapping (or outlining) can save numerous wasted steps by helping to define the process and ask the right questions before setting objectives.

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If you're working on a project right this minute, why not start practicing these skills? Your classmates and I would love to hear what "big picture" you're working on now, and give you some feedback!

Introducing the five w's (who, what, where, when, and why)

Last time, we covered how to develop the overall scheme of a project. You learned that determining the process involved in completing a project helps you identify the proper people for the project team. In addition, you saw that keeping things simple and making goals specific helps keep any project on track.

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Yes, this is a question -- one that you, as project manager, must be able to answer in complete detail. After all, how many of us can deliver much of anything if we do not know what, specifically, we are supposed to be delivering?

OK, you won't be establishing deadlines that are figured down to the minute. But you can and should be setting deadlines that are specific and understood by all team members. It's impossible to pace yourself if you don't know how far it is to the finish line.

Finally, who and where

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The importance of milestones

Different team members may identify their own personal milestones, but it is your job as project manager to identify the team's milestones so that they can be acknowledged and celebrated.

Thinking upside down

It's all about communication

Keeping everyone on the same page (even when the pages are turning)

Recognizing (and celebrating) milestones

The importance of record keepers

Pros and cons of "group decisions"

Knowing how to communicate with your team is critical during all the interwoven phases of a project. In the last lesson, you learned how to design an effective communication structure that will work

to keep your team informed and motivated. In this lesson, we're going to cover making those big decisions that alter the project's completion as originally conceived.

Ah, the blissful fairy tale world of team decisions -- where everyone is involved, everyone's voice counts, and all voices are created equal in the decision-making process. Just smell the air here; so invigorating and empowering. You watch your team swell with pride as they stroll hand-in-hand through the company corridors, emboldened by their newfound capabilities.

Now, come back to reality, because this just doesn't work for every decision. Sure, there are times when group decisions are a vital, necessary part of the inner workings of a team. But for many project issues, group decisions just don't cut it. How can you know when to involve the group and when to single out decision-makers?

When group decisions make sense

Group interaction makes effective decisions when:

• The decision has a broad impact on numerous team members, and cuts across departments and areas of responsibility. Deciding to eliminate a product feature because it is too costly to manufacture is a good example of such an incident. Such a decision would impact production, marketing, accounting, perhaps even IT and legal -- many departments would be affected by this choice. You need all the input you can get before taking such a major step.
• The decision will directly affect the company's customers. As in the above example, the customer (or end user) for the product would be greatly affected by a decision to reduce features. Incorporating the perspectives of a variety of individuals on the project team is a faster alternative to determining suitability than market surveys or polling existing customers.

The decision covers an issue outside the team's expertise. Tapping team resources to research a nebulous question or identify outside resources makes the most sense in such cases. For example, let's say your team must decide whether to interface a credit card processing system with a customer's management software. As individuals, each knows little about the products. Combined, the team's collective knowledge

• may yield the answers you seek. At best, team members may know whom to contact outside the team (perhaps even outside the company) to provide additional perspectives.

When group decisions are a poor choice

Group decisions will impede your progress when:

• The decision involves only a single function. If it's an IT question, and no one else's work will be affected, let the IT people make the decision. Involving other people only clouds the issue, wastes time, and results in unnecessary delays.
• The decision has no impact on the customer or end user. If the decision only affects internal company processes, involve only those divisions whose work will be affected. A group decision in such a case may overstep its bounds and cause greater harm than good.
• The decision requires little research or outside input. The adage "Too many cooks spoil the broth" best describes this phenomenon. Asking for information and input when it is not really needed introduces confusion to the project.

Group decision-making is an effective technique in some situations, and a hindrance in others. Use these guidelines and you'll know which to choose. In an ideal world, this lesson could end now. But in the real world, the political structure of organizations sometimes shapes how decisions get made. Let's examine how to effectively navigate the sometimes-turbulent waters called "company politics."

To bring a project to completion, team members make decisions each day. Some decisions are simple, like whether to skip lunch to meet a deadline. You should never hear about such routine matters. But big decisions (such as delays, cancellations, cost overruns, etc.) require knowing who has the authority and ability to make, carry out, and stand by them.

Go to the message boards and share your stories of group decisions -- those that worked and those that didn't. Lots of us learn best from hearing tales of horror or happy endings. We learn as much from failure as from success.

Considering the political climate in your organization

Is your organization what I call an HPO -- "highly political organization?" Answering a few quick questions may help you decide.

1. Our organizational chart is:

2. My data management system has:

3. People here are promoted based on:

4. People here work late or come in early so they can:

If most of your answers are "b" -- be advised that you're in an HPO. Read this section carefully. As a project manager, you must tread lightly in this political climate. Identify those who wield the sabers of "power" (whether or not they are members of your team) and be sure to befriend them. The people with the perceived power must be your allies. They must like you. They must want to invite you to lunch. You don't want them to think anything negative when it comes to you. Remember, it's all for a good reason. You've got to get your project done and you need them on your side to do so.

OK, so you have everybody on your side. Do your team's decision-makers have the main ingredients required for a successful project? Just what are these ingredients, anyway?

Clout and capability

The title of this section describes the two key ingredients for any decision-maker. Synonyms for the noun "clout" include influence, sway, pull, authority, and effectiveness. (Interestingly, as a verb, the word "clout" means to hit or strike. So, in theory, you could clout someone with your clout.) In order to be a good decision-maker, and to see that your decisions are honored and carried out, you must have the authority to get things done or convince other people to do them.

Surely you as a project manager must possess these dual gifts, influence and ability. But so should the identified decision-makers on your team. Within subgroups, the decision-makers must be the people with authority. For example, let's say that you have three representatives from the training department on your team -- the training manager, the training content developer, and a trainer. When a decision involves training, you must get the buy-in and sign-off of the manager. And it's likely that you'll need the input of the developer and trainer to be sure they have the ability to pull things

off as planned.

It's true that making decisions and having the right people endorse them are important parts of the process. But just how should you keep track of decisions once they're made?

When I was a bank compliance officer, and had trouble with people responding to my instructions, I would ask the CEO to help me by sending out my memo under his signature on his letterhead. People who had ignored me for weeks replied immediately. Evidence, indeed, of clout in action -- and a humbling experience for me.

Documenting decisions

Even if it's the head honcho making a decision, the record keeper still has to keep score. Why? There are plenty of reasons.

• To record the project for posterity -- The more successful projects you're involved with, the more you'll begin to see the similarities in the processes you employ. You'll also be able to review the contributions of the team to see who really made an impact, and who was just along for the ride. This helps you to select better teams in the future.
• To enhance accountability for decisions -- When people know they've got to attach their name to it, they make a better decision and do a better job. Documenting decisions ensures that praise and blame are allocated properly.
• To permit speedy action when things change -- If you need to respond quickly to an item, it helps to know who made the decision in the first place so you can ask them to address the current issue.

Two years from now, when you're in final phase, no one will remember that it was Frank P. who suggested that you replace the flexible whatchamaycallits with rigid ones. But you'll need to know who it was, because he was the only person who knew where to get the rigid ones. And now you need more. By looking in your project diary, you can easily see that it was Frank P. and enlist his help.

Some useful methods for the record keeper to use are:

• Keep a project diary. By logging each day's tasks, the record keeper can easily refer back to the journal to find key events and players in the process. Cross-referencing the diary and the supporting documentation make finding key pieces of information easy and useful.

Ask for written acknowledgment of all decisions before implementing

• them. Lots of things get lost in translation, especially when speed is a factor. The record keeper should confirm all decisions by having the party okaying the decision sign off on it. Sign offs should be kept in a separate file, so that when people say, "I didn't say that," your record keeper can say, "Oh, yes, you did." A sign off can be as simple as a confirming email or as complex as a written memorandum.

Train team members to provide the record keeper with supporting documentation. Each major decision should have backup documentation to support it. If the marketing department claims they have research about

• competitors, make sure it gets added to the project files. That way, when someone says, "What in the world made you think X was making widgets?", you can say, "Here's the Marketing Department's research on the matter." It also facilitates speed for future projects when you can refer to a prior one and eliminate some legwork.

Finally, what good is planning, setting objectives, shaping communications, and making sound decisions, if no one feels accountable for their piece of the process?

In traditional organizations and HPOs, you've got to keep written tabs on all the major decisions. Don't assume anything. When your junior team members are involved in a project decision, inform their bosses of the decision as a courtesy. You'll be glad you did when, down the road, someone questions why something happened a certain way, and you can say, "A made the decision, and B signed off on it."

Print a record of all decision points -- be sure to keep a copy in your project binder for reference.

Tracking accountability

In order to stimulate accountability, it must be tracked. This is why people with weight problems lose more weight working with personal trainers than they do alone. Sure, they're smart enough to figure out what to do and capable of doing it -- so what holds them back? It's a lack of accountability. When a third party becomes involved, they are suddenly accountable to something greater than themselves.

And so it goes with your project teams. When they become accountable to something greater than themselves, it improves their sense of commitment to the project as a whole. They know their efforts will be recognized and rewarded if they succeed, punished and pitied if they fail. It is your job

as project manager to hold them accountable, to ensure their success and limit their setbacks. How do you do it?

Get tickled

In addition to being the project's cheerleader, creating excitement and enthusiasm for the objectives, a project manager is also its "follow-up" person. Yes, it's your job to chase everybody around and make sure they get things done on time. You must have a monthly and a daily tickler system. You need something that tells you what's due today, tomorrow, next week, and next month, so you can plan accordingly. (We'll talk more in Lesson 10 about the technology tools that can help you manage tasks.)

Get busy

No matter how mundane it seems, or how irritating you might think it is to do this regularly, establish a habit of following up with people. Call them immediately if they miss a deadline. Touch base with them the day before their due date to make sure they're on track. I have successfully used the following method to track accountability.

• The day before a deadline, I send an email reminder of the due date and ask for a reply.
• If I don't get a response, I phone them to find out why.
• If I haven't heard from them by the following day, I get word to their boss that I am trying to reach them. (That one usually works pretty well.)

When people know they're being "watched" they tend to be on their best behavior. Remember the lessons of the three-year-olds. Prompt follow-up also ensures that if you have pegged the wrong person, you'll know before it's too late. "I handed that off to Darla," they'll tell you -- in ample time for you to find Darla and see if she's done.

Moving forward

We covered the pertinent factors involved in decision-making: how to decide when a group decision is best, when to consider the political climate of your organization, and most important, keeping track of the entire process through tracking documentation and accountability. Now, we come to the real nitty-gritty: how to decide the order in which the work will get done. This is the most painstaking part of any project, and one that can't be taken lightly. You may have to learn a whole new way of thinking! See you next time.

Identifying resources

In the last lesson, we covered the decision-making process. We discussed when to use group decisions, and when they may be ineffective. We also discussed how the political climate of an organization can affect the decision-making process. You learned that both influence and competence are important attributes for a decision-maker. Finally, you learned the value in documenting decisions and tracking accountability.

Now that you're comfortable with selecting the decision-makers, it's time to figure out the sequence of events that will lead your project to a successful conclusion. This lesson will help you do just that.

The first step in deciding the work sequence is to identify the resources that are available to the project team. Your first impulse may be to start with the budget cap and force the project fit the budget. That approach is like buying a pair of jeans without looking at the label, then praying they're the right size when you get them home. This is not to dismiss the importance of observing cost requirements. But you can't even arrive at a decent estimate of the project's budget without assessing the resources that are available to you.

Think of yourself as a juggler and the project's resources as the balls you must keep in the air. The balls are constantly in motion, but their rhythm, balance, and relationship to one another remains steady. Lose your focus and they all fall. Keep them aloft until you intend to conclude your performance and you thrill the onlookers.

Three essential resources

There are three essential resources for any project: people, time, and money. These are quantifiable resources (ones that can be measured). I've also included a miscellaneous category for things that don't fit nicely into these, like knowledge and equipment you may already have on hand. Viewing the project's needs in these terms helps you be a better manager, and will help you shape your communications with the people who evaluate your performance.

People

Even in the most automated environment, there are going to be people involved in your project. You've already identified the people who will comprise your team. This resource identification phase requires you to assess their availability and quantify their contribution. You should also identify and document the people they may use for support when they need assistance.

In large organizations, where you may not know your team personally at the outset, it may be helpful to request a fact sheet from each team member. This is a useful tool for record keeping purposes as well as for assessing each person's usefulness as a resource. A sample questionnaire to use for this purpose might look like this:

Sample Fact Sheet

The fact sheet helps you identify potential weaknesses in your plan before the project begins. For example, Sherri may be a great addition to the team, but she can only devote four hours a week to the project, and her portion takes 40 hours to complete. If Sherri can take ten weeks to complete her part, no adjustments are necessary. If not, you have to evaluate other options.

Any change to a project's parameters can be distilled as adjusting the three resources -- people, money, and time. For example, in the above scenario, you could:

• Replace Sherri with someone who has more time to devote to the project (change people).
• Hire people to help get Sherri get her part done (change money).
• Extend the deadline for completing the project (change time).

The people requesting that the project be completed should guide you in deciding which of these adjustments they prefer to make. (We'll talk more about this strategy in Lesson 9 when we cover dealing with delays and difficulties.)

Money

Although we would wish it so, money is rarely an infinite resource. In most cases, a certain amount of the green stuff is set aside to complete a project, and the outcome is greatly dependent upon this variable. Have you ever "updated" a part of your home? You had lots of choices to make. What kind of floor and wall coverings? What colors and styles to choose? The choices you made were based on your preferences and your pocketbook. The average person doesn't approach things with the idea that, "Money is no object." And neither does the average project.

Although people and time can seem intangible, when put into the context of money, they become quantifiable. Simply put, if Sherri makes $40 an hour, and will spend 40 hours doing a task, the cost is $1600. (For our purposes, let's not complicate it with the addition of providing Sherri with benefits.) What if a consultant could do the whole shebang for $1000, but would require two weeks to get up to speed on your processes? You can see how the three essential resources are interwoven.

Time

Just this morning, my ten-year-old asked me, "What if there were no time?" This question so perplexed me that I simply stared at her for a moment. I explained that it would be impossible for humans to interact. For example, no one would know when school started, so people would arrive at different (hmm -- can't use the word "time") moments. (No, even "moments" is a time word. Ouch.) To which she responded, "So what did the cave people do?" Luckily, the school bus came before I was forced to enter this lengthy philosophical discussion. I was glad there was no "time" to get into it!

But you see the point. Time shapes our exchanges with one another. It is a convenient measuring tool. Every single thing about our lives could change, but there would still be a period of time we call a "day."

In the context of a project, the use of time has greater consequences than people or money. You cannot buy time; you can only buy more people who can get the job done faster. You cannot extend time; you can only extend deadlines. So time really is money in the context of a project.

Managing a project is all about managing the people, the money, and the time. So how do we keep these balls in the air at the same time? By keeping track of these funky little creatures called deliverables.

A good mnemonic device: Remember that the resources you have to manage are Money, Time, and People. Those words start with the same letters as "Manage The Project" which, after all, is your job!

What's a "deliverable" anyhow?

A "deliverable" is a thing that gets delivered. In a project, any item that must be completed in order for the project to reach completion is a "deliverable." Each step in the process map we talked about in Lesson 1 is a "deliverable." Like the egos of those who get them done, some deliverables are big and some are small. But all deliverables need to be delivered in order for the project to be 100% complete.

Deliverables are often expressed in terms of "percent complete" so that the rest of the team can understand the measurement. I may not have a clue what Bo's department does, but when Bo says they're 40% complete, I know they have more to do than what's already been done.

Consider a deliverable complete only when you get sign-off from the responsible party. Be direct and specific in your demand.

You're putting Bo on the spot, and that's the idea. Bo will then re-check himself to make sure he really is 100% complete before he affixes his John Hancock. If he doesn't, it's his reputation on the line, not yours.

Early in my career, I was apt to believe people when they said they had done things. Because I was conscientious, I thought everyone was. Now I know better -- and so should you. My approach now is wwhat I call "optimistic skepticism." I hope I can trust people, but I put follow-measures in place just to be sure. You owe it to yourself to do the same.

So how do you determine what's a deliverable? You need to augment the process map designed in Lesson 1 to include specific tasks, which the team members will identify for you.

Outlining tasks

In the process map from Lesson 1, you probably touched on several concepts on a "gut level" that have carried you this far. Now it's time to enlist the help of your team members to create a project outline. It will save you the cost of numerous "value-size" bottles of antacids if you do this in planning meetings where the whole team is assembled. Only at such a meeting will the team get into Vulcan mind-meld mode.

The planning meeting

The purpose of this meeting is to brainstorm. Set the tone by stating right up front that no question is stupid, no remark idiotic, and that all mental filtering processes are to be checked at the door. Encourage people not to think about their remarks, just blurt them out. Then you, as the facilitator, jot them down. You will be surprised at how creative and thorough this process ends up being.

The facilitator (you) should ask, "THEN what happens AFTER THAT?" over and over and over again. You may also need to insert a few, "What has to happen BEFORE you can do that?"

interjections in order to flesh out the task outline, because so many functions will be interdependent.

Visual aids

Visual aids are an excellent tool to use during this outlining session. Those that allow you to flip back and forth easily work best, since most ideas that come out of this brainstorming process don't come out in order. Two that I have found most useful are:

• Flip charts or "post-it" charts: These large pads and a box of super-fat markers almost make you feel creative--think "kindergarten classroom." By not cramming a lot on one page, you can flip back and forth to add things where they belong.
• Overhead transparencies: If you're more comfortable with a smaller work surface, or if you're addressing a larger group and want to be sure everyone can see, try using an overhead. Same principle as the flip chart, but a more manageable size.

Preliminary outline

No matter which you choose, you and the record keeper will use these sheets immediately following the brainstorming session to craft a preliminary project outline. Make sure your writing is legible and that you keep the sheets. The sooner after the meeting you do the outline, the better. Because these sessions could take several days for large projects, build in time at the end of each day's session for you and the record keeper to pow-wow. If this means ending the group meeting at 4:00 instead of 5:00, do it. It will pay big dividends down the road.

Team input

Once you have completed the preliminary plan, you still need the input of the team members to figure out the interdependencies within the group. Send out the preliminary plan with a request for input. Tell the team that you need for them to highlight in the plan every item that must be 100% complete before they can begin working on their piece. After you get their responses, you can begin to lay the foundation for tracking dependencies.

Certainly these methods are not the only ones that work. Why not share some of your ideas about brainstorming with the rest of us?

Certainly these methods are not the only ones that work. Why not share some of your ideas about brainstorming with the rest of us? The HP iPAQ Pocket PC h1910 model is HP's newest addition to the successful iPAQ Pocket PC. It's thin, light and brilliant display makes the HP iPAQ h1910 an essential Pocket PC for individuals wanting freedom to access personal information and entertainment at their convenience.

Let's use the juggling analogy again. You release one of the balls too slowly. As it's going up, it bumps into one of the balls coming down. All the balls are affected, and all fall to the floor. The same thing happens to a project when dependencies are not monitored properly.

Status reports

A wise way to track dependencies is to mandate a weekly (or daily for very detailed projects) status report. Request this as a mini "sign off" and make it as concise as possible. You want the answers to two questions and two questions only:

If not, when will you deliver the deliverables?

Asking anything more invites complaints, whining, and excuses –

all unnecessary noise to a project manager. You honestly don't care why things aren't done, or how they will get done, or what else is going on. If someone tries to explain these things to you, stop him or her. Say, "I'm not really concerned with that, Josephine, what I need to know is when it will be done so I can inform the team and adjust the plan accordingly."

Your ONLY concern in tracking dependencies is to keep things on track.

It is your role to advise the other people on the team whose tasks are dependent upon completion of the task in question that there is a delay. Then you must determine if they can meet their deadline based on the newfound delay. If their answer is no, and they are, in fact, adversely impacted by the delay, you now have to go back to the resource question:

Should we add time?

•  
• Should we add people?
• Should we add money?

It's all pretty simple when you put things in this context. You don't have to worry yourself with lots of low-level detail -- the subject on our next page.

Don't forget the kindergarteners! Resist the temptation to make things more difficult than they have to be. Simply checking boxes or crossing things off a list can be an effective way of tracking dependencies. Don't get bogged down by embellishment!

Detailed task planning

Now is when your team members should create detailed task plans of their own to guide their efforts with respect to the project. They may need your help in guiding them through this process. Remember that just because someone may be an excellent "doer" does not ensure they are also an excellent "planner." Give them some instruction regarding your expectations, and tell them to ask key questions of themselves when devising their detailed task plan:

• Why am I doing this? Is it essential or just desirable?
• How am I doing this? What are the steps in the process?
• When will I be done? How long will it take to complete the steps? How many hours, days, or weeks?

Planning the ins and outs of deliverables should be left to the folks in charge of delivering the deliverable. Give them adequate time for this process; a week is a good standard if you have it to spare. Ask them to return their answers to you by a specified deadline that allows you time to make follow-up inquiries if need be. Then send out a final project plan and ask for people to sign off on their piece. This is their "buy in" to the plan. They've developed it and agreed to it. Now they need to execute it.

As the project manager, you must be aware of who's doing all of the detailed tasks in the project plan, and you must document what's included in the detailed plan. But carrying this level of detail around in your head after it's been reduced to writing only clutters your thoughts and increases your anxiety. Once you've added the tasks to the plan, forget about it. Track progress and enjoy celebrating the milestones!

Determining the milestones

In Lesson 2, we likened a project milestone to a landmark when driving. Landmarks might be effective navigation tools when taking an across-town trip, but they rarely suffice when the trek takes you cross-country. (A long project definitely resembles a multi-state journey more than it does a trip to the hardware store.)

When you're driving, you have essentially two ways of answering people when they ask, "How long 'til we get there?" You can either tell them how far it is (300 miles) or you can tell them how much time will pass before you arrive (5 hours). Determining the milestones in a project is very similar to this process. You can identify the milestones based on time (dates) or on distance (progress).

Using the time method, milestones along the project continuum are based on how much time will pass between now and the end of the project. A milestone is celebrated after a certain amount of time has passed -- regardless of the progress that has been made. So, if the project is 6 months long, you may wish to celebrate a milestone every two months (for example, March, May, and at the conclusion in July). The time method works best for projects where there is an absolute deadline--what hip project managers call a "drop dead date." On the "drop dead date," the project HAS to be done, whether it's perfect or not. Examples include: turning on a newly converted computer system, going live with a new web page, releasing a book for sale.

In the progress method, milestones are not based on time but on the amount of work that remains to be done before the project is considered finished. Examples of projects suitable for the progress method might include constructing a building, redesigning an information management system, or replacing worn-out equipment. Milestones are celebrated when certain percentages of the work have been completed.

No matter which method you choose, remember to recognize and celebrate the milestones to keep your team motivated. But what happens when all the planning doesn't work and things don't go as planned? If you've built in contingencies, you'll still be able to celebrate.

When establishing milestones, don't be afraid to enlist the help of your team. What do they perceive as the significant and noteworthy events along the way? Incorporating team perspectives curries favor both up and down the food chain.

Incorporating contingencies

An effective project manager always reminds the team members to build contingencies into their respective plans. Then for good measure, the project manager adds another little contingency of his/her own.

Most project managers have been well indoctrinated to the practice of including a budget cushion. "Add 20%" is good rule of

thumb when estimating any cost. But those same folks often forget to include an invisible "time cushion." Doing so distinguishes the seasoned pro from the rank amateur. But what do I mean by invisible?

The invisible time cushion

A facet of human nature is that people expand tasks to fill the time allotted. If you're given a week to do a project, and you know it will only take a day, do you do it the first day -- or the last? Based on a wholly unscientific survey of ten working people I know, seven responded that they wait until the last day! And it's those seven folks you're being paid to worry about; the other three would do just fine without you (or any other project manager, for that matter). When I tell my daughter we can go bowling as soon as her room is clean, it's done within minutes. When she has all day to do it, it takes her hours.

The project manager's time cushion ought to extend the finish date of the project by at least a few days, and desirably a few weeks. This "cushion date" is the date that you, the project manager, give to your boss. When you complete the project ahead of time (on the date the team thinks it's due), you're all stars!!! When you bring it in on the "cushion date," you're still on time! Cool technique, huh?

The cushion should remain hidden from the team. Think of it as a "rainy day" fund. It brings great comfort to know it's there if you need it. But keep it concealed lest the team be tempted to dip into this allocation unnecessarily. Proceed as though the finish date is THE date, and use the contingency only when true disaster strikes. Let the team members know that you've intervened on their behalf.

Jody will think you begged the powers that be, and will be grateful. You'll know the rewards of including an invisible time cushion, and everyone lives happily ever after. The "what if" scenario should be the constant companion of any vigilant project manager.

Now it's time to prioritize, right? Set priorities? Why haven't we talked about that yet? Because it doesn't work. Let's see why.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition (2000) defines a contingency as follows:

1a. An event that may occur but that is not likely or intended; a possibility. b. A possibility that must be prepared for; a future emergency. 2. The condition of being dependent on chance; uncertainty. 3. Something incidental to something else.

So the contingency is that you should not be in a state of contingency when planning for contingencies.

Why prioritizing doesn't work

The answer, like everything else about this course, is pretty simple. Once you hear it, you go, "Ahaaa!"

Prioritizing doesn't work because it makes some

Everything you do is important. If it's not important, don't do it at all -- ever. If it is important, why not get it done promptly? Filing is a good example of a task that typically gets a "low priority" moniker. But get three weeks behind on your filing and see how hard it is to find something. You're a sad sack, aren't you, with a client on hold and your boss standing in your doorway as you root around on the floor looking for a file? (You should be ashamed of yourself.)

If something is so insignificant as to fall to the bottom of your priority list day after day, only to serve as a nagging reminder of things left undone, it is probably unimportant enough to delete it from your list. If it's important, but you just can't seem to find the time to do it, perhaps you can explore alternatives. Maybe your assistant can help you with your filing. Maybe your spouse can take the car for the oil change. Be creative. But whatever you do, stop prioritizing and start doing. You'll get everything done a lot faster!

Moving forward

Congratulations! You've finally reached the STARTING LINE for your project. All that's left now is to run the race and get to the finish line. I say to my students that the rest of the project is a foregone conclusion -- you've planned, plotted, and prepared. As you get into the actual project, one of the most important skills you'll need to acquire is the skill to run or facilitate a meeting. We'll cover that in our next lesson.

The Personal Efficiency Program inspired me to eliminate procrastination, prioritizing, and pontificating, and start doing. You might want to tap this gold mine of information for your own nefarious purposes.

Congratulations on completing lesson 5! Don't forget the following:

The triple A formula: agenda + attendees = action

Last time, we covered the work sequence -- how to identify resources, plan tasks, and track dependencies to keep your team running smoothly. A major part of all of this pre-planning, and a lot of what you will be doing during the execution phase of the project: meetings.

From my experience, you can expect to spend at least 20 percent of your time to completion in planning activities. Most of this planning will be done in meetings. You have to hold them -- so how can you make meetings work for your team instead of against them? Let's find out.

This formula expresses the basic premise of effective meetings in three words. If you can remember it, and remind yourself of it constantly throughout the process, your meetings will run more efficiently and you will experience greater results than you might be conditioned to expect. You must manage the agenda and the attendees in order to get results. This is more than baby-sitting the kindergarteners; it requires some advance planning and thoughtful consideration.

If you've ever sat through a so-called meeting where people were doodling, whispering to their neighbors, excusing themselves from the room at will, answering their cell phones and pagers -- you're familiar with the kind of meeting you don't want to have. Here are a few ideas to kick-start your thinking:

• You must be prepared. Nothing incites apathy among a team quite so effectively as a meeting that appears to have been called for no reason. If there is a way to accomplish your agenda without meeting, find it and do it. Remember, meeting and planning are not doing. The more time you spend doing, the better your results.

You must be engaging. If you don't have a sparkling personality, ask another team member who does to help you facilitate meetings. People will pay more attention if they feel the discussion is lively and is going somewhere. Once you begin to lose them, they drop like the proverbial flies. I once saw a man wearing a tee shirt that read, "There's not enough beer in the world -- to make you look good to me." In meetings led by lackluster personas, no amount of caffeine (or beer, for that matter) will make a dull leader seem exciting and entertaining.

Sometimes the hardest part of setting a meeting is deciding where it will be and who will attend. Let's take a look at how to handle these pesky details.

Meeting logistics: planning the place, time, and people

Brenda felt her stomach churning once again as she tissued the beads of moisture from her brow. "It is soooo hot in here," she kept

Thousands of Brendas sit in thousands of conference rooms for thousands of hours every single day in corporate America. What can we infer from the above anecdote?

1. Brenda didn't need to be at the meeting if she made no contribution during a four-hour period.
2. The room was too hot. Heat makes people inattentive and sleepy.
3. The refreshments were insufficient and not adequately replenished, causing attendees to fixate on their absence.

How can we make our meetings more successful than Brenda's?

Plan the place

To the extent possible, the meeting room should be clean, uncluttered, and free from distractions. (My personal pet peeve is people gazing out of windows, daydreaming, while I'm talking -- so I purposely try to meet in rooms without windows.) Good lighting is imperative, and good acoustics may be important depending on the size of the room. Sufficient space should be allotted; no one likes being crammed into a wee spot with a herd of others.

If your company doesn't have any state-of-the-art conference facilities, don't despair. Even a brief walk-through can spruce up the ugliest of spaces. Move extraneous gear to a corner of the room, bring in an extra lamp, and -- voila -- you've made the digs more desirable.

Plan the time

The time of day you choose to hold the meeting can influence its effectiveness, as well. If you want a meeting to be brief and to the point, schedule it at 11:30 a.m. or 3:30 p.m. People who want to

hustle off to lunch or skedaddle for the day are less likely to drag things out. If your hope is to maximize creativity, schedule an early morning session, when people have the most energy.

Set reasonable time limits. When the time has expired, for Pete's sake, end the meeting. If you haven't covered everything, break out into smaller groups or table the discussion until next time. Given very few exceptions, meetings should not last four hours. No one's attention span is that long. Besides which, at such length, it's no longer a "meeting" at all; it's a commitment. (I've had entire relationships that were shorter than some of the meetings I've attended.) I guarantee that you'll get more productivity and sustained interest with four one-hour meetings than with one four-hour meeting. If you can't trim the time, figure out why. Perhaps you need to break the team down into subcommittees or workgroups so meeting time is bearable.

You may need to work with your team a bit to see what works best for the group. Some folks don't even stir until they've had lunch, while others can't do a thing after their morning java buzz expires. Don't be afraid to tinker with it until you get it right.

Plan the people

After you set your agenda, identify the people on the team whose duties and expertise are relevant to what will be discussed. Invite those people. Don't invite any other people. By limiting meetings to people who are able to make a contribution, you enhance the "lively and engaging" component by a factor of ten. Snoozers and doodlers serve no purpose, other than to emphasize how far out of whack you've gotten.

Make sure you outline this strategy to your team right up front, so that you can avoid hurt feelings and stepped-on toes down the road. Say, "When I call a meeting, if you're not invited, it's because the agenda has nothing to do with your tasks. It's not because I don't like you, think you're incompetent, or find you annoying. You will be informed and asked to participate in the future if we happen to touch upon your area of expertise. Otherwise, be thankful you don't have to sacrifice an hour of your precious time."

Repetition helps

For project teams that need to meet on a regular basis, it makes sense to establish a routine with respect to meetings. When team members know they will have a standing meeting each and every Tuesday at 3:00 p.m., it allows them to plan their lives accordingly. They can advise their subordinates and superiors of this obligation, making it less likely that they will have to shun your shindig for conflicting appointments.

Those are the basics. Let's talk a bit more about how to manage the agenda.

The administrative people in your organization -- assistants, associates, and secretaries -- are often a good resource for info on meeting planning. They know good rooms and how to get them, who's got the best goodies to put out for snacks, etc. Don't forget to tap their knowledge for meeting tips and tricks. Better yet, enlist their help in preparations. You'll be glad you did!

Managing the agenda

Have you ever inserted a cake into the oven without first preheating? I made this mistake once and learned that the results are less than desirable. Failing to prepare attendees for a meeting yields similar results -- you end up with a meeting that is burnt around the edges and not quite done in the middle. Consider your agenda the "recipe" for your meeting, and the attendees the "ingredients." If you follow the recipe and use the proper ingredients, you end up with a tasty concoction.

After you have decided who should attend, and have established and reserved the meeting place, send out a meeting notice to all the invitees. The meeting notice should contain the following:

• Logistics -- The notice should include the date, time, and location of the meeting, as well as any driving directions, or a link to a site that can give driving directions (such as Mapquest.com). Pertinent details, like whether meals or refreshments will be provided, should be shared. If alternatives are available to in-person attendance (e.g., conference call, video conference, or online chat) advise people of that and how to obtain access.

Contact numbers -- Attendees need an advance contact number, in case they need more details before the day of the meeting. They also need a number to reach you on the day of the event, in case something interferes with their attendance -- e.g. they get stuck in traffic, can't find

• the venue, have a family emergency, or are ill.
• Items to bring and preparedness tips -- Attendees need to be advised whether they need to bring equipment (such as calculators or laptops) or documents with them. In addition, they should be informed of what knowledge they need to bring to foster their active participation. An example:

If Frank is supposed to brief the group on the tax consequences of choosing Option A, Frank needs to know not only the ins and outs of Option A, but probably needs to do a bit of research on the matter. Because you've given him plenty of notice, Frank will not be surprised to be called upon during the meeting and will be ready to provide his input. Giving team members proper preparation in the meeting notice should preclude any "I'll-need-to-look-into-that-and-get- back-to-you" time-wasting responses from the group.

• Request for guests or other attendees -- Ask the invitees if they think anyone else should be present. They often identify guests or others whose input may be useful to the team.
• The agenda – Include a copy of the agenda.

Sometimes it may be necessary to call an "emergency meeting" if there is some sort of crisis that must be addressed. In such cases, observe as many of the above criteria as time permits.

Tips on the agenda

The agenda itself should be as specific as possible. An example of a poor agenda would include an inane description such as "Accounting Update -- Richard C" and nothing more. What the heck does that mean? If Richard is going to report third quarter sales figures, so state.

Expanded agenda format

I like to use an expanded agenda format, which includes a mini-briefing on each item. In this way each presenter and every attendee knows what sort of input he or she will be expected to contribute. I also build in breaks if the meeting is longer than an hour so that people can use the facilities, check messages, refill coffee, and so forth. It eliminates their having to interrupt the action while it's in progress. Here's a rudimentary example:

sample meeting agenda

Notice how this expanded format is different from (and more useful than) the typical agenda one usually sees.

Setting the pace

Be sure that you keep the discussions on point and on track. If the team starts to stray, I remind them of how much time remains on the topic and what remains to be decided. Corporate execs,
like kindergarteners, sometimes need to be reminded of what it is they're supposed to be doing. Their minds wander into other

areas of responsibility. Their neurons fire at them unrelated (but exceedingly important!) concerns. A gentle reminder of the task at hand and how much time is left to complete it helps people stay focused on their purpose.

This brings us to taking a closer look at our attendees, and the task of managing their participation in meetings.

We've been working hard, and I'm sure everyone could use a laugh. Let's try to mortify each other by posting a tale on the Message Board under the title, "The Absolute Worst Meeting I Ever Attended."

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Managing the attendees

We've already stressed the importance of choosing the right people to attend the meetings. Don't waste people's time by asking them to sit through meetings where they have nothing to contribute. You lose credibility and they lose interest.

"Managing the attendees" means making sure people know what's going on. You've got three roles as a meeting facilitator: coach, cheerleader, and commentator.

Coach

The coach constantly reminds the players of the objectives they have assembled to pursue. The coach provides guidance about the best tactics to use to pursue a victory. Ideally, the coach keeps people in line when they misbehave.

Cheerleader

The cheerleader bolsters the team's enthusiasm by using supportive remarks and positive reinforcement. Saying things like "That's an excellent point, Mary," or "I am excited about that idea, Gunther," set the tone for positive interaction.

Commentator

The commentator provides a disinterested, third party analysis of the team's progress. The commentator avoids being overly caustic or overly adoring. The commentator may provide a play-by-play account of the goings on, or may interject a story or statistic to illustrate the point being made.

If a difficult delegate makes meetings miserable, try to handle the distraction immediately. Sometimes a simple reprimand during the meeting will do. If not, and the offending behavior continues, take the person aside and explain your concern. Often times, people don't realize they are being disruptive. Being firm and direct yields the best results.

Managing the action

What do I mean by "Managing the action?"

The underlying purpose of meetings is to decide upon or reinforce a course of action. If, at the end of a meeting, you have not answered the questions set forth in the agenda, something is wrong. If nothing happens after a meeting, something is wrong.

Be sure to emphasize the purpose of the meeting at every available opportunity. In doing so, remind the attendees of the need to focus on the issues at hand. Make sure their antennae stay tuned to the right channel. Think of yourself as a "static buster." Your job is to cut through the unnecessary noise of a meeting and get to the place where the lovely harmonies of your well-tuned team can be heard.

Ask the questions in a variety of ways to be sure they are understood. Reiterate and document the decisions. Make sure people truly agree upon decisions -- that they aren't just being bullied into decisions by a vocal minority. If you can't reach consensus, get as close to it as possible, then you, the group leader, cast the deciding ballot.

Of course, no matter how carefully you manage a meeting, there will be times when you will have to deal with unprofessional behavior.

How to stop whining, bickering, blaming, and other unprofessional behavior

I hate to keep harping on those poor kindergarteners. But I defy any manager of adults to spend at a day observing them and then tell me there's nothing to be learned from them. Here are some tips, straight from selected preschool educators, about how to

manage unruly types:

Whiners

Folks who are prone to the "woe-is-me" syndrome respond to a firm "So what?" attitude. The more you coddle them, the louder the whining becomes. Ignore their baseless complaints and focus on what needs to be done.

Bickerers

Argumentative types are best handled with a heady resolve for sticking to facts. A bickerer usually resorts to an argumentative posture because his position is weak, so asking for the facts can be quite disarming. "Stan, can you show us some evidence that that is the case?" usually shuts old Stan right up.

Blamers

Nothing is ever the blamer's fault. Somebody or something else made them do it. A good tactic to use with the blamer is to suggest they be replaced or assisted somehow by the "devil" that made them do it. If Jenny blames her boss for making her tardy, ask her for her boss's extension so that you can call to explain to her boss how important it is that she be on time for meetings. Chances are, she'll be on time next time.

Clowns

A good sense of humor can be a boon to any situation, and laughter has lightened the load of many a manager. But when the clowning becomes corrosive instead of conducive, it's time to act. More than one group of goof-offs has been tamed by separating the offenders; maybe it will work for yours. If not, call them aside after the meeting and ask them to contain themselves in the future.

If you're still at a loss, ask other team members to help you by intervening on your behalf. If that fails, ask the person's boss to intercede. If nothing works, consider replacing the offending team member with someone whose presence is not so disruptive to the group.

So you've handled the wild ones and the meeting's over. What should you do now to ensure that it wasn't a waste of time?

You should always make sure you're not overreacting by getting feedback from the other team members before finalizing your decision to remove a team member. If you have a personality conflict with the person, but everyone else adores him or her, removal could be a bad move.

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Things you should do after the meeting

Here are some tips for effective follow-up. Doing these routinely as a matter of practice will ensure your intentions don't get lost in the forward progress.

• Distribute minutes immediately and solicit comments. Doing so ensures that any misunderstandings or miscommunications can be resolved promptly.
• After the "comment period" expires for the minutes, add decisions to the project plan. This is the only way you'll be one hundred percent certain that decisions will be acted upon.
• Get signoff from non-attendees if needed. If a decision requires the okay of higher-ups to be acted upon, secure it immediately. If it isn't granted, advise the team right away to suspend efforts until the matter is resolved.

Moving forward

You're becoming rather astute with these details of project management. By managing the agenda, the attendees, and the action at your meetings, you're well on your way to demonstrable results! Since follow-up is a recurring theme in project management, next time we'll talk about how to keep your team on track -- even when you're not meeting face-to-face.

Remember, a meeting's decisions will soon be forgotten if they are not documented. Creating and distributing minutes ensures that team members are still on "the same page."

Congratulations on completing lesson 6! Don't forget the following:

Being predictable

Last time, we covered the skills that you'll find desirable when running or helping to facilitate a meeting. By remembering the Triple A formula (Agenda + Attendees = Action) and managing each, you'll run more effective gatherings. We also touched upon the things you should do after meetings to see that the meeting's purpose is fulfilled.

Whether after a meeting or as a matter of course, a project manager must have solid follow-up skills. In this lesson, we'll discuss how to keep the team and the project moving smoothly toward completion.

The virtue of predictability

I was disappointed to learn early in my career that in order to manage projects successfully, I had to become predictable. The zany, madcap renegade image I had worked so hard to cultivate in my teens would have to fall away. Reality really hit me one day when I witnessed one of my teen idols, an icon of my rebellious youth, singing for his supper selling luxury sedans. Squinting at my television in disbelief, I knew that my days of being zany and madcap were numbered, if not already over.

To paraphrase a line from the Gordon Gekko character in Wall Street:

Your team should learn to expect certain things from you. In order for the team to learn to expect these things, you need to provide these things on a regular basis so they become accustomed to them. (The psychological term, I believe, is "reinforcement.") What should your team expect?

One-on-one meetings

This can be as simple as a regularly scheduled telephone update. You call Patty every Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and talk to her for ten minutes about her piece of the project. If it takes longer than ten minutes, decide what action needs to occur and then schedule a follow-up call. This way you don't teach people to dread your phone calls. (If you've ever worked with a "chatty" project manager, you'll know what I mean.

One-on-one meetings have some important benefits:

1. You build a personal relationship with each team member. The team learns to like and trust you (presuming that you are, in fact, likable and trustworthy). People are more apt to follow a leader with whom they feel a personal connection.
2. Team members are more likely to save minor issues for the one-on-one than to interrupt you with phone calls and e-mails at other, nonscheduled times.

   Team members can brief you on an issue before it's presented to the group. You can decide together how to approach the topic, so that when group time comes, you're both

3. prepared to "manage the action."

Being practical

A good project manager, in addition to being predictable, must also be practical. Practicality is the opposite of idealism. As the project manager, you set the tone for the team. Solutions that are too "ivory tower" must be toned down. People who won't quit bringing up an idea that was abandoned three months ago must be tamed. Here are some tests you can apply to see if you're being practical:

• The "Can Grandma Understand It?" Concept Test: Eliminate the severely technical elements, then decide whether you could explain it to your granny so that she could grasp the concept. If the answer is no, you haven't made it simple enough. Try again.
• The "Would Dad Pay For It?" Budget Test: If there's no way Dad would shell out for it, chances are it's not that practical. Find another, less pricey alternative that will meet your needs. I really wanted a brand new Trans Am for my sixteenth birthday -- what I got was a Chevette. But I still got from point A to point B, and was able to afford to go on the Senior Trip to boot.
• The "Would Mom Let Me Do It?" Test: While Dad was the financial barometer, Mom reigned in the realm of morality. No "car dates" until senior year. No exceptions to curfew except on Prom Night. Stay away from that wild boy, Joe. If your mother would think it was a bad idea, you probably shouldn't do it. Think of all the accidents (not to mention) heartache that could've been avoided if only you'd listened to your mother.

Now that you understand the importance of predictability and practicality, it's time to practice some of what you've learned. In the next section, we'll cover some of the skills you will use when following up.

Completing a project could be likened to a family outing. It is important to satisfy the requirements of all "family members" (project team, higher-ups, clients, etc.) in a practical fashion, to avoid having the outing be a disaster.

Skills for "following up"

There are two kinds of follow-up skills that you will need to be successful:

• Organizational skills
• Communication skills

Let's see how these two interact.

Organizing

Being organized for optimum efficiency presents an ongoing challenge to the project manager. Whether you are using a paper-based system or a computerized one, you need a system that allows you to identify what needs to be done in the course of any given day. This usually means combining a calendar system with a quick-retrieval filing system. (I still suffer great distress at why we call these things "ticklers" -- there is nothing tickly about them.)

A friend of mine who shall remain nameless (she knows who she is) has two calendars, four tickler systems, and she still doesn't know what the heck she's doing at any given moment. Looking at my system makes her sick, and she refuses to try it. (My theory is that being simply organized simply doesn't make her look "important" enough.)

Think of your calendar as a guide, not just a reminder. Schedule work that needs to be done in your calendar. A mental trick that often helps me is to pretend that I am my boss (which I am, in real life) and that I am plotting out what my subordinate will do for the upcoming week. Looking at it this way is much easier for me than trying to plan what I will do -- because I just want to drink tea, read books, and work crossword puzzles! My boss wants me to accomplish something useful. If this seems a little too schizophrenic for your tastes, then just try the following:

• Calendar -- Use your calendar to record appointments and reminders as well as to block out time for actually doing work! You can't do anything if you're in meetings all day (even if your job is to run the meeting!). Build in enough breaks to keep you focused. Keep your appointments with yourself and hold them in as high regard as the ones you have with others. Example: If you block out an hour to work on XYZ, put the phone on voice mail and ignore the e-mail, just as you would if you were in a meeting. Focus your attention for that hour, and you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.
• Tickler -- Set up both a daily tickler (a 1-31 expanding file) and a monthly tickler. Things for this month get put in the proper date slot. Things down the road go in the appropriate month's folder, with a sticky note on them highlighting the date. If a conference call will take place on the 25th, put your file and notes about the subject in the 25th's slot. Write the conference call appointment in your calendar. Two days before the call, write a 30-minute appointment on your calendar to "prep for conference call." You're done. No worries about what you've forgotten; no anxiety about being unprepared. Consider yourself tickled.

Communicating

An essential part of follow-up includes communicating with people the right way at the right time. Because you've built predictability and practicality into the process, you're already halfway there.

Your purpose in communicating with your team members when following-up is to determine how they are progressing toward the goal. As mentioned in a prior lesson, your follow-up should consist of figuring out if they're on track to meet a deadline and, if not, when they will be. Rules to remember:

• Keep it short, sweet and to the point. Don't be a windbag -- you're just trying to get the answers to brief, predetermined questions.
• Be specific. The worst question you can ask is, "How are things going?" The other person might launch into telling you, and think of how awful that could be! Ask specifically about the points you are calling to discuss. Know ahead of time the questions you want answers to, so you can direct the conversation.

Offer support. Every conversation should end with, "Do you need anything else from me?" Whether the person is on or off track, thank them for their time. If they're on track, give

them a "yippee"! If they're off track, give them the verbal equivalent of a hug.

The perfect follow-up call might go something like this:

"Hi, Lynn. I'm calling to follow up on tasks A through D. Are you going to be able to deliver those on Wednesday?"

If Lynn says yes, it's easy.

If Lynn says no, don't ask, "Why aren't you done?" Ask,

Then offer support:

Finally,

Simple, specific, and supportive -- just what you need to be effective. So now that you've followed up with everyone, it's time to see just how the project as a whole is coming along.

Measuring progress

If you've got project management software, this part is simple. Click off deliverables and you're nearly done. If you're tracking things manually, things become a bit more complex. Because each of you will use a method you find suitable for your needs, this section will not go into detail about systems; it will cover the process.

• Update your system immediately. Whatever your system, use it as you follow-through with people. Don't put things into a stack, queue, or file. Check off boxes, change dates, whatever you're doing -- do it right after you get the update. Relying on your fallible human memory, or tools so tentative as an easily lost post-it note, will not work when you are managing 147 tasks simultaneously.
• Back up your system regularly, and include an off-premise backup. If you're using paper, make photocopies and take them to your house. If you're using electronic media, back up your system daily. If your company doesn't have a network server to which you can copy files, backup your system and take the disks home. People backup to prepare for system trouble, but rarely consider the consequences of a disaster. If your office floods or catches fire, where will you be if your backup disks are in your office?

Review your results. It still takes the analytical prowess of the human brain to assimilate the data. You need to

• actually look at what you've entered in your system to make a determination about the status of the project. Is it on track, or within tolerances? Will you make it by the "cushion date" or will you need to revise the project's parameters? Do you need anything from your higher-ups? Only the human brain (no computer model) can process such decisions.

So how, when, and where do you need to share information about the project with others? Next, we'll look at when reports are necessary and when they are extraneous wastes of time.

If you have a favorite project management software, we'd love you for telling us about it. Give the rest of us some tips on the message board for how technology has helped you and your team stays on track.

When reports are necessary (and when they're not)

Have you ever been on a project team where you've been "reported" to death? Sheet after sheet of paper, page after page of e-mail, minute after minute of voice mail -- only to realize that none of what you're being told pertains to you in any way? If so, you know that more than half of the so-called communication is just noise; static that interferes with your ability to hear what's really going on.

I keep my project paper-pushing to a minimum by providing a briefing sheet to my team during the regularly scheduled meetings. This is not a copy of the printout from my project management software! It's a written narrative in plain English that people can understand, remember, and regurgitate when they're asked where the project stands. Nobody's boss wants to hear, "We're 45 percent complete on subtask A." They want to know what kind of progress you're making -- how is it relevant to them? I like to include visuals and words in my briefing documents, and make them as simple as possible.

CLEAR checks

Before you report anything to anyone, do a CLEAR check. The etymology of the word "report" indicates that it comes from the French "reporter" (pronounced more or less "ray-portay," not like the English "reporter"), which means, "to carry again." Why in the world would you want to carry something that's already been carried? Before you decide that you must report, ask yourself:

• Why is this relevant to the person to whom I am reporting?
• What is the person supposed to do with this information?
• How will knowing this information benefit the person to whom I am giving it?

If you can't answer those questions, don't carry it again! If you have nothing to report, don't waste your team's time trying to make yourself look good. I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but if no one cares, there's no reason to report it.

Fine, you say, but I have to report to my boss, board of directors, client, etc. What do you mean, don't report? They're telling me I have to report! What do I do now?

If what you have to report isn't critical to the progression of the project, keep it to yourself! Ask if this is something you would need/want to hear and, if it isn't, it's likely no one else wants to hear it either.

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Involving your supervisors

When I say "supervisors," I mean whoever has the say-so over you. In most companies, whether spoken or unspoken, there exists a clear chain of command. You know who your boss is. Even if you're the CEO, there's still a Board of Directors to whom you must answer. In a public company, the shareholders supervise the Board of Directors. If you're an independent consultant brought in to lead a project team, chances are good that one or more senior executives of the client company are measuring your performance.

Setting the groundwork

Make sure from the get-go that supervisors know your intentions and schedule for the project. Advise them that you and your team will need their support and understanding to do your best. Let them know they can expect to receive regular reports from you concerning the team's progress. Demonstrate your willingness to be available to them at specified times to handle their questions and concerns.

By getting your team's supervisors to feel as though they are "involved" with the project from the beginning, you pave the way for asking them to support you when you need their help. If Gina's always behind schedule, you've got an open channel of communication with her boss to address the productivity issues. It may be that her boss imposed another deadline that caused the delay, and a simple conversation is all that is needed to resolve the matter.

Uncooperative supervisors

If you're dealing with a supervisor who is obstinate or uncooperative, perhaps your boss needs to talk to that boss and set him or her straight. Remember the example I gave before

about getting the CEO to send out my memo under his signature? Same principle. Enlisting an "authority figure" when you're in a jam can mean the difference between success and sorrow.

Involvement versus interference

Discourage, to the extent possible, any "hands-on" interference in the project from anyone who is not a team member. You can't tell the CEO to go fly a kite, but you can assure him or her that everything will be fine without the needless meddling of anal retentive senior managers -- oops, I mean -- that everything will

be fine without having to trouble him or her with insignificant levels of detail. More than one project has plummeted like a lead balloon because of mandates thinly disguised as "advice" from well-intentioned superiors.

Moving forward

Do you feel more in control? Much as I hate to admit it, being predictable and practical really does help you measure progress and stay on track. And reporting only when necessary and only to people who need the report keeps the team healthy and happy. But don't get complacent! No matter how much success you're enjoying, you must be ever vigilant for the obstacles that inevitably try to keep you from reaching your goals. Next time, we'll discuss how to recognize and eliminate barriers to success.

Supervisors (yours and those of your team members) can be your best allies in carrying out the project's objectives if you involve them effectively. Involve them unnecessarily, and it can work against you.

Congratulations on completing lesson 7! Don't forget the following: