What is missing from a Cost Performance Report

I recall a very positive meeting where we exposed several non project management team members to a Cost Performance Report (CPR) for the first time. A CPR addresses project performance through a defined period of time in relation to contractual requirements.  The CPR details budgeted work scheduled and performed, actual cost work performed, and the variance in both schedule and cost.  All of this is itemized per Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) element for both the current period and the cumulative to date.  The last values you see are the budgeted, estimated, and variance at completion of the contract. There were a lot of questions as to why one WBS element has a positive or negative cost variance and why it may have a positive or negative schedule variance.  Trying to explain this to those without a project management background can be a challenge.

I was having a sidebar conversation with one team member who could not understand how the element that pertained to him could be both ahead of schedule and below budgeted cost. The answer came from across the room in the form of a question.

"Is there any way this report captures quality?" The answer was no.

That my friends is called Triple Constraint.  We know the Scope, Time, and Cost within this report.  What we don't know is Quality, Risk, or Customer Satisfaction.  That's ok.  This is the CPR, not a Total Project Status (TPS) Report.

By not committing the scheduled time and budgeted dollars to complete the task to a level of quality that meets the customer's expectations, the contractor looks good only on paper.

Critical Path added to Technorati

In order to reach a broader audience, I have added Critical Path to Technorati, a blog search engine.  Feel free to view my Technorati Profile.

Free Lessons Learned Template

It is not important that you call it a Lessons Learned or a Postmortem. What is important is you learn from your mistakes. At the end of every iteration or project, you should identify everything that went wrong or could have gone better. Articulate them in a document. At the beginning of each new iteration or project, review the document and see not only what was learned but what has been implemented. Feel free to download my free Lessons Learned [Template]

Disappointing PMI Customer Service

Last month, I needed to get some information from PMI about OPM3 (Organizational Project Management Maturity Model). I wasn't satisfied with what was published on their website so I composed an email and sent it off. I received a confirmation email stating "Thank you for contacting the Project Management Institute. Thank you for contacting the PMI Global Operations Center in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, USA. A Customer Care Associate will review your request and contact you within three (3) business days." I was even provided a ticket number. So, I waited 3 days. ...and waited. ...and waited.

Disgruntled and disappointed, I called them.  I was routed to "general" customer service.  After looking up my PMI membership number, the service representative couldn't answers my questions so she routed me to the desk of the person in charge of OPM3.  I left a voicemail about having questions about OPM3 and left my contact information multiple times.

And now I wait some more.

I'm coming up on 2 weeks and nobody has contacted me.  I feel like PMI is more interested in collecting membership dues and selling products then serving those who have obtained and maintain their PMP certifications.

Helping people looking for jobs

For those of you who were interested in the BA position that I posted 3 days ago, we've filled the position. I was recently asked what service I thought was the most beneficial for finding jobs.  Though I don't think any one service is perfect, a combination can get you qualified job leads in pretty short order.  When I was looking for a job, Careerbuilder referred a lot of people looking to hire anyone with a pulse.  I was sent solicitations ranging from selling insurance to stuffing envelopes.  Maybe they have the lowest prices for "employer" accounts?  I'd offer a pretty good rating to Monster.com.  I discovered reposting my resume on Monster every Sunday night resulted in a wave of qualified leads.  Another service that I found useful was The Ladders.  Ladders only lists jobs paying $100k or more.  Sure, it costs you money but it really helped weed out jobs I wasn't interested in.  To the contrary, I was really disappointed by jobs posted directly on corporate websites.  It was as though the HR departments or companies were saying they would like to hire people for positions but they didn't have any plan in place to actually interview and hire in a timely manner.

Hang in there people.  The jobs are out there.  You just need to know the right place to look.

Looking to place a Budget Analyst in the DC area

Though it looks like there are no jobs to be had, they are out there. If you're a budget analyst and looking for work in College Park, Maryland, here are the job requirements: +10 years of experience with project management and acquisition management with engagements in the financial, information technology and government agencies' procurement cycles of major acquisitions. Effective management of the earned value management system, source selections, and logistics of a major system's life cycle. Strong background in Microsoft Project Professional and MS Web Sharepoint environment to build-out and to maintain a networked Master Integrated Schedule that is resource loaded and integrated with multiple project files. DoD Acquisition Certification Level III and wInsight/Risk+ knowledge is preferred and is highly recommended.

If you're interested, make a comment to this post with your email address attached. I won't make the comment public. It just gives me an opportunity to securely identify interested applicants. I'm not the person doing the hiring. I'll just make sure your resume gets to the necessary people.

Project Duration Forecasting

I've had a subscription to a trade rag called CrossTalk (The Journal of Defense Software Engineering) for a few years now. I've read the articles but none really got my attention and kept it. In the December 2008 issue, there is an article about comparing Earned Value Management Methods to Earned Schedule. It was written by Walt Lipke of the Oklahoma City Chapter of PMI. Now that I'm working on a very large government project, this article really sparked my interest. If you're working in a government PMO or on a government project, I recommend you give it a read. The author did a really good job of using real project data and also did an excellent job comparing EVM methods to the Earned Schedule (ES) prediction technique.

If you're new to Earned Value Management or still studying for your PMP, this may make your head hurt a little. If PVcum, EVcum, and BAC are in your daily vocabulary, you'll enjoy it. Article Link

Earned Value Management (EVM)...the basics

Should all projects or programs utilize Earned Value Management? Short answer: No Long answer: The industry standard for project control systems described in American National Standards Institute (ANSI) EIA-748, Earned Value Management Systems, must be implemented on all projects with a total project cost (TPC) greater than $20M for control of project performance during the project execution phase.

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a systematic approach to the integration and measurement of cost, schedule, and technical (scope) accomplishments on a project or task. It provides both the contractee and contractor(s) the ability to objectively examine detailed schedule information, critical program and technical milestones, and cost data.

In layman's terms, it quantifies the estimated value of the work actually accomplished.