PMcrunch

I love basketball and I enjoy each March here on the United States when March Madness and NCAA basketball tournament arrives. In watching the games this past weekend, I could not help but be amazed at the number of game changing plays made by the players. In many of the games, it was a matter of how many game changing plays each team made. And the one that made more won. But the fact of the matter is that, these teams are full of game changers and made every game changing play they could. What can we learn from this for project management?

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There is always something going on that we can “take advantage of”. When we are in school, we can take advantage of the opportunity to learn new things in a free thinking environment. When we are on vacation, we can take advantage of the opportunity to sit back, relax and have a good time. When the weekend comes, we can take advantage of the opportunity to get some extra things done around the house, or to see to some friends. Now, we find ourselves in a recession. So, the natural question is, “What can we do to take advantage of the recession?”

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Most of us as project and program managers are constantly looking to improve ourselves, our performance, our skills, and our influence on our respective organizations. There are some trends at work that I think we can tap into that can help us to do all of these things and more. They can help us to move our careers to the next level.

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Frequently, in our projects, especially those of technical nature, we are confronted with the opportunity to analyze various possible solutions. In this process, it is critically important to understand all aspects of cost related to each alternative. A potential trap is to simply compare price. Oftentimes, price is only one very small aspect of the cost of going with a particular product or service.

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In these tough economic times, it will be quite a challenge for so many of us to make it through the year with a strong financial performance. I have been thinking about what some of the keys are to ensuring that 2009 is a solid year. The best conclusion I have is that the customer is king. Here are my thoughts.

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Loyalty has always been a big topic in organizations of all types. Back in the middle ages, kings spoke of their loyal subjects and gave severe penalties to those who were not loyal. For many years, in the post-World War II era, people were rewarded for loyal service with lifetime employment. However, in today’s fast-paced world the question in my mind is “What are the limits of loyalty?”

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At the end of a year and at the beginnning of a new one, we all tend to take some time to look back at the last twelve months and to look forward to the next twelve. This is a good time for us to asses our own performance, strengths, weaknesses, interests, things that we would like more of and things that we would rather do without.

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Two methods of capital budgeting often used on project and in project portfolio management are internal rate of return(IRR) and net present value(NPV). They are close cousins but take a little bit of a different look at the value of a project. They are both time based and bothrelayed to cash flows over time on a project.

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Most of the focus of individuals in the project management profession is on improving their own ability and that of others to execute well on projects. Typically, we are able to measure our progress in that regard by measuring performance and results on these projects. There is a process called “projectization” that refers to the general capability of people and organizations at large to manage projects effectively and predictably. Let’s take a look at how this is done at an organizational level.

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Whatever performance review system is in place, the important thing for project management is that the line organization that holds ultimate responsibility for the project should be the primary input and judge of a project manager’s performance. Performance evaluation is often difficult in matrix-type organizations, such as those that include a PMO. Let’s take a look at some of the challenges.

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