In discussing the value of good, accurate and concise meeting notes, a colleague recommended this link from the EffectiveMeetings.com website.

This is a practical, clear source of good meeting guidance.  Some of the topics covered include:

• Why do we still have meetings?
• To meet or not to meet – that is the question
• The 10 Commandments of Meetings
• Leading a Meeting
• Dealing with your Meeting Notes

Highly recommended.

Originally posted 2008-05-06 10:15:00.

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Info Source – How to Make Your Meetings Better is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

6 Tips for Email in the New Decade

Ron Holohan, PMP of the PM411 podcast interviewed me recently on the subject of effectively managing email.  If you’ve yet to hear PM411, you’re in for a treat.  Ron’s project management podcast is interesting, informative and a lot of fun.

Some of the topics covered in our spirited talk include:

• What’s wrong with the way I’m managing my inbox today?
• How can we make our email more organized and efficient?
• Are there ways to make Outlook and GMail work better?
• How do I find an email I sent to my boss 6 months ago?
• As a PM, is there a recommended way to organize inbox and email folders?

Listen in to the PM411 podcast here.

P.S. I don’t really have 12,322 unread email messages in my inbox – though Somewhat Frank did when he captured the image!
Creative Commons Image: Somewhat Frank

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12,322 unread email messages. Help! is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

This morning I found myself once again taking a negative tone in a conversation.  A coworker was speaking to me about the benefits of life in Australia over the United States.  When I came to myself I realized that I was again spouting facts and figures about the declining US Middle Class (see here, here, or here).  All these things may be true.  But who likes a pontificator?  I sure don’t want to be one.

Negativity as an indicator
When I catch myself holding negativity in a conversation, I’m usually feeling indignation at an injustice being done to some group of people.

This is almost never an effective response.

At better times, I am able to identify the policy, situation or behavior triggering my emotional response, and from there come up with improvements.  Such suggestions almost always are less expensive and result in a better experience for the people involved.

False Positive
Have you ever been around someone who insisted that only happy things were discussed?  While it’s essential for success to get in the habit of focusing on solutions, part of the growth process involves preliminary discomfort on the way to something new.  My teacher John Pierrakos used to say that all of life has a beat of Expansion – Contraction – Rest.  In the growth phase the expansion is larger than the contraction, leaving the organism at a higher level during the rest, and future cycles.

Insisting on ignoring true problems and issues is akin to taking painkillers after a serious accident rather than seeking medical attention.  You may be okay – but is it really wise to take the risk?

Who links to me?

Originally posted 2008-04-25 11:13:00.

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Being Positive is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

SUCCESS was created by successful people, for successful people with the sole purpose of helping and inspiring others.

Jonny Gibaud had an interesting idea.  Challenge a small group of bloggers to each define success in 2 sentences.  (Adding an image was encouraged but not required.) More than 40 bloggers from around the world stepped forward.  The result is a free eBook which is available to you today.

The eBook has a Facebook page, which also allows for discussions related to the eBook content.

You can download it for free.

Here’s one image from the book:

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What is Success? How do you achieve it? is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

Why do you prepare status reports? If your only reason for doing so is because your manager requires it, then you’ll want to read on.  Well done status reports serve an important function and can improve your ability to guide your project to successful completion.

Why this post

Not too long ago a project manager explained to me that he never spent more than 5 minutes on a status report.  This was fascinating and slightly horrifying to me, as this was coming from a competent, experienced PM working in a PMO which required weekly status.  When I asked him to elaborate, his explanation was clear and to the point.

I don’t put time into doing things which have no meaning. -PM Anonymous

Audience and Assumptions

This post is targeted for project managers working in corporate and government settings requiring some form of structured system development lifecycle (SDLC) process.  This is usually associated with waterfall development.  Such environments usually project managers to prepare and deliver weekly status reports.  The degree of rigidity around these status reports varies.  My experience in multiple shops has shown that you as a PM have the ability to bend the rules around status reports such that they do achieve their purpose.   If you do status reports right, they will have an impact.

What is a Status Report?

A status report is a clear summary of how a project is progressing against its schedule, scope and budget.  If it is working correctly, the intended reader can tell instantly if anything is off plan and what’s being done about it.

8 Marks of an Effective Status Report

1. Short. If printed, 1 page maximum.
2. Targeted. If you’re creating only one status report, write it for your executive stakeholder.  If you believe this is too high-level for others, then you should segment your audience and create separate reports for each.
3. Well-written. There is no excuse for sentences which make no sense.  Every person who’s received status reports knows what a poorly written one looks like.  Don’t perpetuate this insult to your readers.
4. Attractive. Make it pretty.  Use a format that makes sense.  The easier and more pleasant it is for your reader to find the information on your project, the more likely your report is to be read.
5. Newspaper-order. It used to be that reporters structured articles in such a way that the most important information came first.  Less important details were listed further down.  You’d do well to follow this advice when preparing your status reports, too.
6. Risks and Issues. Make sure to include the big risks and issues that could burn your stakeholder.  Follow the guidance an old consultant told me years ago. “If you bring up a problem, make sure you provide the solution.”
7. Milestones. Include not less than 3 and not more than 7.  Keep a few that you have achieved to show that progress is being made.
8. Status Summary. Some stakeholders will only read the 2 or 3 sentences you include here.  Make them count.  Make sure you update them on every report.

How to Deliver the Status Report

Most status reports are emailed.  You should always when possible copy and paste the content of the status report into the body of the email.  It’s good when you do this to attach a Word or PDF copy of the report for those people who use BlackBerries or otherwise prefer a formal copy.  Status reports sent in the body of an email are 95% more likely to be read than those that are simply sent as attachments¹.

Example

You are free to use this status report example on your projects.  Some points which may make it easier for you to customize:

• Word Tables are used
• Word Styles are your friend.
• To change a cell color to RED, YELLOW, or GREEN
  • Select the cell
  • Change the style to Cell Red, Cell Yellow, or Cell Green
  • Type Red (for red), Yellow (for yellow), or Green (for green)
• Add or remove rows as needed for additional risks and milestones

This status report example is provided as-is.  However if something seems very strange, let me know.  I’ll help if I can. Enjoy!

Download an Example

Have a better example?

If you disagree with these points, or have a better example you’d like to share with others, sound off in the comments.  Thanks! Alec

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8 Tips for an Effective Status Report is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

1. This is a made up statistic. :)

Thinking about New Year’s resolutions?  If your personal task management system could use a little overall, read on.  The free, easy to implement and easy to use AutoFocus 4 can help you stay organized in 2010.

What is AutoFocus?

Autofocus is a time management system developed by Mark Forster. It is based on the principle of having one unprioritized list of everything you have to do.  Before you decide that this cannot possibly work, or that it is the same as any other to-do list, read through the How Does It Work section below.  The very few rules of the system are simple, elegant, and work quite well.

Why Autofocus?

Mark describes the benefits of the autofocus system as follows:

• Greatly increased volume of work completed
• Focus on the most important things
• Lack of stress
• Very fast processing of routine items
• Thorough processing of major tasks/projects through a “little and often” approach

What supplies do you need

This is a low-tech system¹.  All you need to do Autofocus well is a small ruled notebook, a pen, and a highlighter.

I’ve found campus slim B5 notebooks excellent, though these may be hard to come by outside of NYC (or Japan).  This notebook from staples should work equally well.

You’ll want to keep your notebook with you to capture all items as they occur.

How much does it cost?

Mark has provided the system free of charge.  If you like it, you could send him a note or post a message on the active Autofocus discussion forum. I’m sure he would appreciate it.

Why are there different Autofocus versions?

Each of the revisions of Autofocus have incorporated changes based on feedback from early adopters of the system.  The consensus on the forum seems to be that AF4 is ready for public consumption and general use.

How does Autofocus differ from Getting Things Done?

Getting Things Done requires quite a bit of structural maintenance to be effective.  The weekly review, which David Allen emphasizes as a key to GTD, is one of the most difficult things for GTD users to do consistently.  GTD users often can fall into a pattern of spending more time on the system than actually doing tasks.

If you use GTD, or have in the past, Autofocus can work very well for you.  All the key principles of GTD can be used with Autofocus (e.g. ticklers, one list, reviews, someday-maybe).  Having said this, Autofocus is a unique system and is best started on its own.  You can always add other pieces to it later after you’ve used it for a few weeks or a month.

How does Autofocus 4 work?

This is how you start for the first time²

1. Open your notebook to the first page.
2. Add each task that’s in your mind right now.  Place each task on its own line.  Place tasks in whatever order they occur to you.  One task = one line.  It’s not necessary or recommended to add all the tasks from any other systems you may have here.
3. When you’ve added all the things that are in your mind right now, draw a line underneath your last item.  Everything above this line is called the Closed List.
4. As new tasks come up, continue to add them one per line.  All of these tasks below the line are called the Open List.

This is how you use the system

1. Read through each item on the closed list in order.  Work on any task which feels ready to be done. Cross out any task you have worked on too long and re-enter at the end of the Open List if you have more work to do on it.
2. When you reach the line, start again at the top of the Closed List.  Move through the closed list tasks in order until you’ve moved through all closed list tasks without any tasks standing out to you as ready to be done.
3. Move now to the Open List.  Move through the Open List in order working on any tasks that are ready to be done. Make only one pass through the Open List.  At the end of that pass, move back to the start of the Closed List and continue from step 1.

When all the tasks in the closed list have been crossed out, draw a line under the open list.  This now becomes the new closed list.

What to do if no items on the closed list stand out on the first pass

This usually happens after you’ve gone through your closed list many times.  In this case, use your highlighter to highlight every task on the closed list which has not been crossed out.  Proceed once through the open list.  The next time you come to the closed list, look at each highlighted item.  If none stand out for you to do on this next pass, consider each one individually.  You can:

• Add it as is to the bottom of the open list (not recommended), or
• Rephrase or break into multiple tasks adding each to the open list, or
• Decide not to do the item and forget about it.

After reviewing each highlighted item, cross it out completely.  When you have reviewed all of the highlighted items, make a new line at the end of your open list.  This now becomes your closed list.

This is all you have to know to use Autofocus.  Easy, right?  Again, don’t let that put you off.  This is a remarkable system for getting amazing quantities of work done.  Best yet, it’s a fun system to use.

How do you handle projects?

Projects are best handled outside of Autofocus.  Some people add the project name to their Autofocus lists.  When they come to the project name, they move to their project system and work on it as long as it feels right to do.  They then cross out the project name from the Autofocus list and add it again to the end if the project still needs work.

I keep a “Targets” notebook which includes my current personal and work goals and projects.  For each project I have a page with all my open tasks.  I add these tasks to my Autofocus log whenever I review my projects (weekly), or at any other time that is appropriate.  This feels a little casual after using GTD for so long, but it works.

How do you handle agendas and waiting-for items?

In my Autofocus log, I have a separate section for these items.  If I need to discuss something with Joe, I add an entry to the agenda section like this:

(A Joe) What is the plan for project x.  Is it on for January 1?

If Pat is supposed to get a file to me by a certain date, I add an entry to the agenda section like this:

(W Pat) December Hours Excel File (15-Jan)

This makes it easy to follow up and/or work efficiently with other people without harassing them or letting things drop.

Conclusion

Mark Forster has created a wonderfully powerful system in Autofocus.  You’ll only see how good it is if you try it.

Happy 2010!

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Remember Everything in 2010 with Autofocus 4 is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

1. Autofocus 4 can be done electronically.  Check the Autofocus forum for on-line and other implementations.
2. You can also read Mark’s preliminary instructions for Autofocus 4.

What Happened

Tuesday I found myself in the cardiac care unit of NYU Langone Medical Center.  On the way to the emergency room I wondered for a few minutes if I were on my way to meet my old friend John Harrell on the other side.

Almost no one wants to be in the hospital.  If you’ve never been a patient, know that it’s no vacation.  You have by default abdicated basic control of your body.  You can expect to be poked and prodded, hooked to machines, dressed in a sheet, and woken repeatedly throughout the night for blood to be taken. You are surrounded by strangers, away from familiar settings, and probably scared. You’re moved by wheelchair or stretcher and discouraged from walking.  The experience is profoundly unsettling. It’s also necessary – these people you’re trusting are working to restore your health and perhaps your life.

Thank goodness my colleague recommended NYU hospital.  The place is well run with caring, respectful, happy staff.  The doctors spend significant amounts of time with patients.  The food is made on site and surprisingly good.

I’ve always considered myself relatively healthy.  I neither drink nor smoke and have been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years.  My heart attack scare arrived out of nowhere.  The sharp, pressing chest pain intensified steadily over the morning hours and began to radiate leftwards down my back, side and arm. It left me in unfamiliar territory with a renewed appreciation of life’s fragility.  It certainly wasn’t on my agenda for the week.  As the Yiddish saying goes, “Man plans and God laughs”.

Lessons Learned

Here are 7 lessons from this week’s wild ride.  They’re presented to both inspire and encourage you to listen to your own heart as you progress on your work/life journey.

1. Listen to your heart

My heart’s been trying to talk to me for months now.  I haven’t been listening.  It finally found a way to get my attention.  When our bodies take direct action to get our attention, it’s seldom pleasant. Is there anything your heart’s trying to tell you that you’re doing your best to ignore?

Do yourself a favor. Listen.

2. Value your work community

The night before my scare I mentioned to my wife that on the previous 2 days I had experienced more positive interactions at work than I could remember in any comparable period over the previous six months.  On Monday I had had a delightful lunch with a Hindu friend who graciously shared some of the precious and hard-won lessons from his life.  In a different conversation a coworker described his hunger to experience the vast open spaces which connect him with the sense of something greater than himself.  His fear of this epiphany was only slightly exceeded by his longing.  On Tuesday morning a coworker casually asked about a book on listening he had seen on my desk.  Our resulting conversation invigorated his natural curiosity and marked an instant of mutual respect and genuine connection.  As social creatures we desperately need these moments.  Over time the moments become threads, the threads networks and the networks communities.

These are your lifelines.  Value them.

3. Let yourself accept help

Super-achievers are excellent at both helping others and doing things for themselves.  We’re often less skilled at accepting help. When my chest pain expanded past my ability to ignore it, I had to make a conscious choice to disregard my programmed do-it-myself response.  I approached a colleague my gut told me I could trust, and asked for help.  She listened in a calm, matter of fact way.  After truly hearing, she got the insurance company nurse hotline number and suggested I call right away.  When the insurance company instructed me to waste no time in getting to the hospital, my colleague respected my desire for privacy by not broadcasting the situation throughout the office.  She dropped what she was doing, got me to a close hospital, accompanied me to the emergency room, stayed with me, and provided a much needed anchor.

Let yourself accept help.

4. Care as much about your health as you do about your company’s or project’s success

For many of us solving problems, organizing teams and being part of the solution are essential to our self-image.  Many US companies have fired so many people that those left have job responsibilities too broad for one person to achieve.  As heroes and good corporate citizens, we fill in the gaps.  Such behavior can kill you.

Better is the attitude and behavior of my friend Sara.  When asked to take on yet another project by her manager, she replied, “I am doing A, B, C and D.  If I add E which would you like me to move to the bottom of the list?”

It’s easy to believe in your physical invulnerability.  Even if we’ve seen or heard about a coworker fall to stroke or heart attack, we never think it could happen to us.  Let my experience be a lesson for you.  Decide the limits of your work, and keep to them. Few jobs are worth giving your life for.

Care as much about your own health as you do about your work.

5. Accept that sometimes failure is the best option

Once a project leader I know sent around an email to his team which read, “Failure is not an option.” Do you think this is true? I used to believe it, but now I’m not so sure.

Some projects are doomed.  Even if a project has hope of success, sometimes the project manager has her hands tied in ways that almost guarantee the project won’t succeed.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Have other PMs failed on this project before you?
• Is this project continuing down the same path as others that have not worked well?
• Are your proposed risk solutions consistently ignored?
• Have consultants walked away from the organization or the project?

Sometimes superhuman efforts won’t work.  Be conscious of the danger to your health of trying to prop up an effort that the organization has already doomed to failure.

Sometimes failure is the best option.

6. Take 100% responsibility for your situation

It’s very easy to fall into the habit of blaming others for our unhappiness.  This sense of powerlessness over our work affairs can be subtle or not so subtle.  However it manifests, the result is a de-energizing, de-humanizing pain.  As the DC psychologist and radio talk-show host Pamela Brewer used to say, “If it’s unacceptable, it’s unacceptable”.  No matter what craziness exists in your work life, you must take the stance that you are 100% responsible for what happens to you.  If you have done everything in your power, and you know that you can’t succeed, then you must redefine your work until you can be successful.  If your employers will not support you, then you know what you have to do.

Take 100% responsibility for your situation.

7. Resist the urge to move into your zone of incompetence.

Both Gay Hendricks and Robert Biswas-Diener use similar models to group the skills we each use at work.  These are the zones of genius, excellence, competence and incompetence.  (To learn more get a copy of  The Big Leap or contact  Robert Biswas-Diener).

The zones of competence and incompetence contain those skills we use to do things at work in which our results are not so good. These are tasks we don’t enjoy doing, are not natural to us, and often take us more time and effort than they would for someone else to do.

Think about the things you do at work which cause your heart to drop when you think about them.  It’s likely that these are in your zones of competence or incompetence.  Get rid of them all.

Resist the urge to move into your zone of incompetence.

Conclusion

Without love, nothing that we do has any real meaning.  Value the people in your life and especially your coworkers.  Let them know you appreciate them in a way that they will understand.  Buy them coffee.  Bring in candy or treats.  Smile because you mean it.

Treat yourself with respect.  Don’t wait for your workplace to appreciate you.  Take 100% responsibility for your health and well being.

My story had a happy ending.  It turned out not to be a heart attack.  Nevertheless the heart attack scare was a real wake up call.

Have you been through anything similar?  Has it changed you in any way? Your feedback or suggestions will be appreciated.

Image: rescue 911

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7 Lessons Learned from a Heart Attack Scare is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

Have you ever been in the midst of a project or task and thought to yourself, “There has got to be a better way?” If so, you’re not alone. Leading projects is a complicated business. The longer you’re at it the more you can learn and the better you can get.

This list is intended for beginning to intermediate project managers.

It’s written from an Information Technology perspective, and should be applicable to other sorts of projects.

Even pros should find something of value.

Here are 72 project management tips designed to help you lead your projects with skill, authority and grace.

Something missing? Add it in the comments. Here’s to your project success!

Quick start: Meetings and Status.

Tip Categories

Starting the Project | Organizing Yourself | Cost and Budget | Planning | Project Scope | Risks and Issues | Schedule and WBS | Project Management Plan | Requirements | Doing the Project Work | Meetings | Status and Communication | Testing | Closing the Project | Lessons Learned | Customer Satisfaction Survey | Project Closeout

Starting the Project (Initiation)

Initiation is the first phase of the Project Management Life Cycle. In the initiate phase you define the project objectives, purpose, scope and deliverables, and get people and other resources for your project.

1. How will you know if your project is a success? Can you state the success criteria in a few words or sentences? In other words, how will you know when you are done?

2. Are you doing a project?  A project is a temporary endeavor with a specific result or objective. If your project has no end in sight and/or no clear scope, then what ever it is you’re doing may be important, but it’s not a project. You’ll have a hard time showing your team that they’re being successful.

3. If you’re project has no end in the next 3 to 6 months, can you split it into multiple projects?

4. Are you thinking about the triple constraint?

5. Do you have a project charter/project definition? If not, write one for your own benefit.  Having a charter can eliminate many opportunities for confusion during the project.

6. Who are your primary stakeholders? Who are your other stakeholders?

7. If you have more than one stakeholder, how will differences between stakeholders in regard to the project scope, timeline, budget or deliverables be resolved? If you’re not sure, then this is a good discussion to have with them.

8. Do you have a roles and responsibilities chart?  Who’s on the team? Who’s not on the team?

9. Do all core team members understand their roles and agree to them?

Organizing Yourself

Go to top of list
10. Do you have a portfolio of templates? If not, start one.

11. Do you keep a collection of really good project documents written by you and others? If not, start one.

12. How are the project deliverables, documents and notes being managed on your project? Is there one master place where things are being kept? Does everyone on the project team know this?

13. Are backups being done (documents, deliverables, code, etc.)? When was the last time you tested the backup? Try it today and see what happens.

Cost and Budget

Go to top of list
14. What’s your approved budget? If you don’t know, how can you find out?

15. Who’s responsible for tracking the budget? If it’s not you, can you negotiate access to invoices as they are submitted and payments as they are made?

16. What’s your method for reporting spending against budget?

17. How much have you spent? If you think you’ll be more than 10% over budget by the end of the project, what are you doing about it? Can you get more money? Can you trim scope? Have you told your stakeholders?

18. Is your budget up to date?

Planning

Planning is the second phase of the Project Management Life Cycle. You’ll set the plans needed to manage time, risks and issues, changes, quality and everything else that will be done during project execution.

Project Scope

Go to top of list
19. Do you have a signed project scope?

20. Does your scope include what’s not in your project?

21. Is the scope written in language that anyone of reasonable intelligence can understand? Are all acronyms explained?

Risks (and issues)

Go to top of list
22. Do you have a risk log or register?  This is one place where you are tracking potential events which would have a positive or negative impact on the project if they were to occur. If not, why not? (Email me if you would like a sample template of a simple excel based risk log.)

23. Are you spending a few minutes with your team every week or two identifying new risks and working to mitigate or otherwise handle the existing ones?

24. Are you communicating significant risks (high likelihood, high impact) to your stakeholders well in advance so that they are never surprised?

25. Are you keeping records of everything you and your team plans to do, is doing, or has done in regard to the risks and issues on your project? This is extremely valuable information for use on future projects.

Schedule and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Go to top of list
26. Have you identified all of your deliverables for the project?

27. Are you including your team in identifying the steps needed for each deliverable?

28. Did you use PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) or another method to come up with your time estimates? Did you come up with time estimates? Did you validate them with the people who will actually do the work?

Project Management Plan

Go to top of list

PRINCE2 (Projects in controlled environments) defines the project management plan as, “a statement of how…a project’s objectives are to be achieved.”

29. How will important project information be collected? Disseminated? Email? Meetings? Wiki? Twitter? Casual conversation? This is sometimes known as a communications plan.

30. How will risk be identified, quantified, monitored and managed on your project? Will you have a risk log? When will you inform others? How will they be informed? This is sometimes known as the risk management plan.

31. How will changes to the project requirements or scope be handled? If there is an overall change management process, how do changes to the project relate to that process? This is sometimes known as the change management plan.

32. How will purchasing decisions be made on your project? How will you identify potential sellers? Will you use a Request for Proposal (RFP) process? Does your organization have a set standard? This is sometimes known as the procurement or vendor management plan.

33. How will team members, clients and stakeholders be brought to competency level on project’s product? Do any team members need support to complete their project responsibilities? How will training be delivered? Online? Through printed guides or manuals? Train-the-trainer? Classroom training? This is sometimes known as the training plan.

34. How will the solution be moved to production or otherwise delivered? Will there be a go/no go checkpoint? What are the steps? Who does what? What other groups or organizations will need to be involved? Are there time windows which must be honored? This is sometimes known as the implementation plan.

35. How will ongoing support be addressed after the project has completed? Who will be responsible to maintain the project’s product? Who will help with any user issues or concerns? How will enhancements or fixes be reported and incorporated? What preventive maintenance will be needed? This is sometimes known as the maintenance transition plan.

36. What issues are likely to arise after the product is deployed? Are there any steps which can be taken to minimize likelihood and/or severity of these potential issues? This is sometimes known as the disaster recovery plan.

Requirements

Go to top of list
37. Do you have some sort of grouped requirements for your project?

38. Do you know when what you are expected to deliver expands? How do you handle this natural event?

39. Are these requirements used as the basis for design and testing? If not, why not?

40. Is the whole project team involved in and kept informed about the requirements? How can you involve development? How can you involve testing?

Doing the Project (Execution)

Execution is the third phase of the Project Management Life Cycle. This is where the actual work of the project gets done. This is the longest and most costly phase (or should be).

Meetings

Go to top of list
41. Are you keeping your meetings as small as possible? Past a certain point, the more people, the less work gets done.

42. Do you allow people the right to opt-out of meetings? (Hint: use optional in the invite whenever possible.)

43. Do you have a clear agenda for every meeting? Do you send it out in advance, include the purpose of the meeting, intended outcome, expectations of participants, content and reference info (if needed)?

44. Do you make sure everyone understands the purpose of the meeting?

45. Do you make it easy for people to participate?

46. Is there an appointed note taker for every meeting?

47. Is there a clear facilitator for every meeting? Few people are naturally good facilitators. If your meetings are generally less effective than you think they could be, what are your plans for getting trained?

48. Are meeting notes sent out within 3 days. A week? Ever? Do they include all decisions reached and tasks assigned? Are they sent to everyone in the meeting and who will be impacted?

49. Do you schedule meetings for 30mins?

50. Do you schedule (or change days and times) a week in advance except in case of emergency? (Emergencies happen once or twice a year.)

51. Do you always start on time? Starting late rewards latecomers and disrespects those who arrive on time.

52. Do you always end your meetings on time? If not, why not?

Status and Communication

Go to top of list
53. Does your status reporting communicate anything of value?

54. Is your status report read? How do you know?

55. If you have one status report, is it aimed at the level to satisfy your project team, your active stakeholders, or executives? Would it make sense to create different reports for different groups?

56. If you expect reports from your team members, vendors or others, are you getting them?

57. If you’re getting them, do they tell you anything of value? If not, how can you change them such that they are of value to you?

58. Do you have weekly status meetings? Can you structure them such that people can be released without staying for the whole meeting?

Testing

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59. Are your test cases completed prior to development beginning? This can greatly shorten the test cycle. If not, are you willing to try this on a future project?

60. Do your stakeholders know how to conduct user acceptance testing? What are you doing to facilitate a speedy UAT?

61. Can you outline the testing strategy and work with them to define exactly what will be tested?

62. Can you agree with your stakeholders as to specifics needed for a successful UAT before UAT testing begins?

63. Is your project susceptible to the terrors which come from the two fatal philosophical testing errors: (a) In search of the bug free release and (b) Good testing means finding the highest number of bugs?

64. Do your developers communicate with your testers? (This applies even if you have an outsourced test team.) In the least effective software shops quality assurance (QA) and development never communicate before testing begins. Don’t let this happen to you.

Closing the Project

Close is the last phase in the Project Management Life Cycle. Here you formally close your project and report the overall level of success to your stakeholders.

Lessons Learned

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65. Do you look at lessons learned as a means to improve future project efforts? Or rather is it a way to get justice by beating up on the guilty parties?

66. Can you create an open, safe place for people to give honest and sincere feedback on the project? If not, is there someone else in your company or outside who could do the lessons learned for you?

67. When was the last time you did a lessons learned?

68. Why not start on this project?

Customer Satisfaction Survey

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69. Do you ask for feedback from your customer, client or stakeholder? An example question might be, “What could have been done better on this project?”

70. If you ask for feedback, are both basic and loyalty questions included? An example of a basic question is, “How satisfied are you with what the project team delivered?” An example of a loyalty question is, “How willing would you be to work with this project team again?”

71. Would you be willing to send out an anonymous survey to your project team?  Some questions to ask: What went well on the project? What could have gone better? What would improve your experience on future projects? How could the project leader be more effective?

Project Closeout

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72. A project closeout document is a formal, signed email or one page document which officially closes the project and releases the team. Have you ever seen one? What will you do to make sure that you use one on your project?

Creative Commons Images from top: mnandi, ND, Leo Reynolds, armigeress, factoryjoe, Robyn Gallagher

Any of these ideas help on your projects? Something missing? Let people know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and wish you well.

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72 Project Management Tips is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

Karen Armstrong has dedicated the remaining years of her life to spreading one  simple idea.  This “golden rule”¹ transcends race, culture, social standing and religion.  It can be applied by you, by me, by anyone.  It requires little time and even less money.  All that’s needed is (1) knowledge of what it is and (2) desire to do it.

You may or may not agree with everything she says, but your peace of mind and quality of life will definitely improve to the degree that you implement the golden rule.  Take a few minutes to watch,  “Let’s revive the golden rule”.  It’s a good use of your time.  You can also access it here.

Karen won a prize at Ted in 2008 enabling her to establish the Charter for Compassion.  I for one am willing to stand up and commit to living the Golden Rule to the best of my ability.  How about you?

Free newsletter and eBook by email. Why subscribe?

Modern Day Hero – Karen Armstrong – Let’s Revive the Golden Rule is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process

1. Golden Rule on Wikipedia.

Puppies Behind Bars trains prison inmates to raise puppies into guide dogs.

Inmates learn patience and responsibility, and have the opportunity to focus on something positive during their time of incarceration.

Organizations like this one help keep me hopeful and broaden my focus beyond my personal company, project and other interests.

Oprah Winfrey did a story on Puppies Behind Bars.  A CBS video describing how the program has been implemented in Colorado is included below.

(You can also view the 2 minute video at CBS News.)

Mike Dooley has raised $7000 of $25,000 for the organization.  If you feel so inclined, and have a few dollars to give, you can participate here.

Free newsletter and eBook by email. Why subscribe?

Puppies Behind Bars Helps You Hope is a post from: Alec Satin on People, Projects and Process