Session 9

1. Project Execution Session 9

2. Learning Objectives • Understand the elements of effective project team management • Adopt the elements of building good stakeholder relationships • Learn how to effectively manage the project plan • Understand the concepts behind distributing project information • Understand vendor and contract administration and management

3. Building and Managing a Cohesive Team • Have you: • Ever been invited to be a part of something and found yourself in a room full of people--strangers actually--and wondering who they were and how they would impact your life? • Ever been invited to be a part of a team in which you knew all the players and liked some but didn’t care for others? • Ever been involved with a team in which you knew and appreciated (or at least learned to work with) everyone’s nuances, all except for one or two who were new to the team?

4. Building and Managing a Cohesive Team • Forming • Storming • Norming • Performing

5. Project Kickoff Team members doubtless have questions: • Why am I here? • Who are you and what do you expect of me? • What are we doing? • Who will we do our work? Project Kickoff Meeting Elements • Welcome • Introductions • Guest speakers • Project overview • Project manager expectations • Q&A

6. You Decide You are the PM for a one-month project that will install a replacement e-mail server. The project team will consist of yourself and two server administrators. • Is a project kickoff meeting required? • Who do you think might be the sponsor? • Who would the stakeholders be?

7. Monitoring and Managing Team Performance • Performance Feedback • Specify performance expectations • Identify inadequate performance behaviors • Reward superior performance • Reprimand inadequate performance • Provide specific consequences for choices made

8. Conflict Management Different ways that people deal with conflict. Understanding these ways will help you more quickly resolve the conflict. • Accommodating - altruistic • Avoiding – bacteria, mold, mildew • Competing - narcissistic • Compromising – quid pro quo • Collaborating – working together

9. Training • Projects often afford team members the ability to take classes or obtain training they would not normally be involved with • Project managers sometimes prepare and offer classes on project management topics

10. Rewards and Recognition • Find ways to reward superior performance by project team members • In a matrix team, team members “borrowed” from other business units may not be privy to recognition or rewards from their regular assignment (out of sight, out of mind) • Regardless of organizational structure, team members must often overcome tremendous challenges to meet the project’s requirements • Try to come up with ways to recognize superior performance – letters, certificates of recognition, money…

11. Other Stakeholder Relationships • Your team isn’t the only group of people that you must manage well • The sponsor, client(s) and stakeholders are also people with a vested interest in the project with whom you should maintain a solid working relationship

12. Client Relationship Management • Clients may have a (legacy) adversarial relationship with the PMO or the Information Technology (IT) shop • Still you must try to foster great relationships with your clients through: • Frequent communication • Team building • Gaining consensus • Timely decision making • Managing Expectations • Managing by facts (as opposed to opinions or emotions)

13. Managing a Wavering Sponsor Not infrequently, a project sponsor may grow cold to the project. Here are some possible reasons: • A change in top management may be driving a new corporate strategy • Rumors circulating that the project is in trouble may be driving the sponsor to take a hands-off approach • The sponsor may have an increased workload • The sponsor may be working through personal problems that are taking focus off of the project • A poor performance review by the sponsor’s supervisor may be driving him to prioritize more carefully, putting your project on the back burner

14. Managing a Wavering Sponsor, con’t • Identify the source of the doubts • Communicate your concerns with care • Utilize allies and influences

15. You Decide • You are a PM for a project that was initially quite controversial and barely got off the ground. Now the sponsor seems to be wavering. • What are your next steps? • What alternatives do you have?

16. Maintaining Relationships With Functional Managers • When working in a matrix environment functional managers “loan” you project team members • Because of this, a functional manager might decide to pull the employee back for other work • If this happens, you’ll have to try negotiating with the functional manager and if that doesn’t work you’ll have to go to the sponsor

17. Effectively Managing the Project Plan • Collect data • Progress reports • Issues logs • Budget reports • Note progress against baselines • Schedule baseline • Evaluating costs • Scope statement • Deliverable sign-off

18. Effectively Distributing Project Information • Project team meetings • Consistent date and time • Consistent attendance • Distribution of a written agenda • Start and end the meeting on time • Follow the agenda • Solicit participation from all team members • Distribute meeting minutes • Desired team meeting outcomes • Team member interaction • Issues log updates • Problem solving

19. Effectively Distributing Project Information, con’t • Status reports distributed to the client, stakeholders and sponsor. Reports include: • Summary of project progress compared to schedule and cost baselines • Completion of any major milestone or deliverables • Status of outstanding issues

20. Effectively Distributing Project Information, con’t • Project Reviews • Generally a project review board consisting of executive and director-level employees reviews the status of all projects (often over a given dollar amount) in the enterprise on some pre-defined interval (e.g. quarterly) • Reports include: • Major achievements for current review period • Budget summary • Major issues • Risks and mitigation or contingency plans • Planned achievements for next reporting period

21. Vendor Contract Administration • Contract administration • Progress reporting • Resolving vendor disagreements • Vendor delays • Dealing with vendors

22. Chaptal Winery Case Study • Examine the Chaptal information summaries • Do you agree? • Are there missing elements? • Should the Chaptal project proceed?

23. End of Chapter Review Q&AInstructor Hand-out Q&A • Go over end-of-chapter review questions • Instructor to hand out additional questions (POP QUIZ TIME!)

24. Next Steps • For this session: • Identify the elements of a cohesive team • Understand what a kick off meeting is used for • Be able to manage and monitor team performance • Identify ways people deal with conflict • Know how to reward and recognize team members • Know how to deal with wavering sponsors, clients and vendors • Maintain relationships with functional managers • Know how to manage the project plan and distribute information • For next session: • Read Chapter 9 and complete the end of chapter review questions. • Work through the continuation of the Chaptal Winery case study found at the end of Chapter 9