What is Not in Writing Has Not Been Said - Part II

A subject of one of my previous posts contained the quote "what is not in writing has not been said". While you may not want to make that statement to your boss when asked about your last conversation, there are many times when this statement is applicable during your project's lifecycle.

A project manager’s main function is to complete his or her project on time and on budget. This takes teamwork and a strong commitment by all team members. To be a successful project manager you must use written communications to ensure the team is kept informed.

Having said that, just because you go to the trouble to document your thoughts does not mean that your communications are clear. The receiver of your message will act on the message they think they received, which is then filtered by the receiver through their emotions and assumptions.

Don't be as concerned with what your words mean, but more with the effect they will have on the people that read them.

An important fact when writing, "Know Your Audience". If the tone of the message reflects the audience's needs you are more likely to grab the reader’s attention and keep it longer.

Most of your readers are overworked, underpaid, unappreciated, and tired of reading all the e-mails, memos, and office correspondence they receive. While this may see extreme, keep it in mind when writing your message and you will tend to keep your messages focused to the point and brief.

Team Communications

How clear are your Project Communications with your project team? As we all know, project teams are made up of diverse individuals with different skills, priorities, and needs. Project teams need timely, clear communications in order to function as a cohesive and productive group. While managing your project, you should focus your team communications to address the following areas:

Accountability - What are the team members accountable for? Which tasks and/or deliverables is each team member responsible for delivering?

Approvals - What decisions are the team members authorized to make? What type of communication needs to be sent by the project manager to the team when project approvals have been made?

Synchronizing - Timely and accurate information needs to be provided to the team members regarding the project's tasks and milestones. Special attention must be paid to how the work is coordinated so all team members are working on the right things at the right times. Include the team when making decisions about synchronizing the work.

Progress Tracking - The project manager is responsible for tracking project status and the team must participate in the status reporting process and be kept informed. Ensure that the team is aware of the project's issues and allow them the authority to take remedial action to avert a crisis.

What is not in writing has not been said

While the title of this message may seem extreme, there are many times when it is relevant in project management. One example is in the area of requirements. Project requirements are always in written form. In the field of project management there is no such thing as a verbal project requirement.

The following text was taken from Chapter Twenty in the “Field Guide to Project Management”. The authors Francis M Webster, Jr. and Stephen D. Owens state, "the written document provides instructions, restates previous instructions, conveys importance to the message, and helps the project manager to cover their tracks".

The authors also make the point that that "e-mail isn't always enough and can get you in trouble faster and with more people". As we all know from experience, e-mail usually isn't given enough thought before it is sent which can lead to messages being misinterpreted and having unintended consequences.

A project manager that is doing his or her job will formally document all items that are important and relevant to supporting a project's triple constraints (Time, Cost, Quality).

Project Objectives and the Work Breakdown Structure

I talked earlier about a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), but this is such an important subject it is valuable to revisit.

The WBS should accomplish several things:

It is the mechanism that takes the project's requirements and turns them into manageable project tasks

It is used to communicate project objectives to the project team and other stakeholders

Its output is used to build your first plan and schedule

In David I. Cleland's Book "Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation. Second Edition" he states that:

In general the development of the WBS provides the means for:

Summarizing all the deliverables , resources, and activities of a project

Relating work elements to each other and to the total project

Building the matrix organization for the project by cross referencing the work elements to the organizational resources responsible for their completion

Addressing all contracted resources required for the project.

Estimating costs, simulating project scenarios, and conducting risk analysis

Providing information to define, budget, schedule, perform, and control work packages

Definition: "Work Package" - A deliverable at the lowest level of the Work Breakdown Structure.

Keep in mind a complex WBS isn't' required for most small and medium sized projects. Many times a simple deliverable-oriented tree of activities that graphically displays the work to be done will suffice. By that I mean a structure similar to an organization chart with the project name on the top row and the second row consisting of some elements of your project methodology.

For example, for an IT project the second row headings might be:

Analysis

Requirements

Design/Procurement

Coding/Installation

Test/Acceptance

Close-out.

The best way to get started with creating a WBS is to gather the team (always done with the team) and write down the project tasks on Post-It Notes. Then, use an available wall to post the tasks in the appropriate places under the headings of your WBS's second row.

Project Management Boulevard

Another good Project Management site with an extensive, usable library of White Papers.

Project Management KnowledgeBank

Here is a link to a site I use quite often. It contains lots of links to other Project Management sites that have some useful information. Project Management KnowledgeBank

Project Management and Disaster Planning

Had you been a Floridian this past week living on the southwest Gulf coast like I was, you would have quickly realized that Disaster Planning was something you should have completed months if not years earlier. It turned out that Hurricane Charlie was a major disaster for thousands of families in our area. I wonder how many might have lessened their troubles if they had done some disaster planning prior to this tragic event.

As my wife and I scrambled around the house on Thursday night taking pictures and recording serial numbers of our possessions, I quickly realized I should have prepared a disaster prepardness plan long ago.

As most of us know, one of the most important things to have when planning for any project is a scope statement. My scope statement for this hastily started project was simple: "keep my family safe and protect our property". I live in a new house, and with the strict Florida building codes that were enacted over the last several years I felt we were safe staying in our home. But, like most projects, my plan was full of risks, and I needed to perform some serious Risk Mitigation. Did I have fresh batteries for the flashlights, a portable radio, a designated safe area of the house to escape to in case things got bad?

On Thursday evening the kids filled the bathtubs with water (in case we lost our water supply), we made sure there were candles and matches (in case the electricity went out), my wife took the time to ensure the propane tank for the gas grill was exchaged for one that was full, and she went to the store and purchased plenty of canned goods and bottled water. To further mitigate risk, my wife and I filled our cars with gasoline and began clearing the yard and lanai of objects that could become flying missiles in a strong wind.

Having said all this, it would have been much better to have had a well thought out plan, or checklist prepared ahead of time so that no important task would be left undone. While our immediate area wasn't impacted much by the hurricane, the lesson learned from this experience is that early planning is not only important, but it can save a lives!

God Bless the families impacted by Hurricane Charlie!