Project management is all about planning. It's as simple as that. Without a well-thought, properly developed plan, no project will ever succeed in meeting the desired scope, time and cost objectives. This is one of the most powerful concepts that today's project management best practices can teach us.
Understanding the importance of planning is something anybody can learn, either through formal training or real-life project experience. Dealing with unique events that have high degrees of uncertainty—as projects inevitably do—without a proper plan is an instructional (and potentially harsh) way of appreciating the value of planning ahead.
Many people believe that planning is related to a person's culture and background. Studies and research have been conducted over the years about cultural differences in management and work, chiefly by Geert Hofstede and by Robert J. House, PhD, et al, in the GLOBE study. Their works are recognized as the most respectable sources of information on this subject. Nevertheless, specific studies on project planning and culture are scarce. Papers from Amy Chin Mei Yen (2007) and Ofer Zwikael, PhD, PMP, (2007) are among the very few that have explored the topic.
It's a common belief that planning culture is related to the geographical climate where it developed. Cultures that developed in regions of the world with tough climates, particularly harsh winters such as Europe and North America, tend to put more importance in thinking about the future and, therefore, planning. Cultures that developed in more benign climates, with all-year access to food and supplies, such as Latin America and South Asia, tend to focus on the enjoyment of the present and a shorter-term vision.
The truth is that climate is just one among many environmental factors, including history, religion, level of education and development, that shape the way different cultures plan. In the end, all cultures plan—they just focus on different aspects of the planning process, putting more importance on one or another component of the project plan.
I have been teaching project management for more than 15 years in Latin America, and I've come up with certain key ideas concerning planning that will work for you, no matter how planning-oriented your culture is:
- A planning environment needs to be set first. Project managers and their teams have the responsibility for planning, but senior management also needs to understand the vital importance of a plan. They must set up the appropriate framework that will allow project managers to develop a good plan.
- Project planning is always a team effort. I never get tired of explaining to project managers that they are ultimately responsible when it comes to project plan development. But they should never work on it alone and risk not having everyone know all the details of the project ahead. The entire team needs to be sufficiently committed to the objectives established.
- Fight for enough planning time if necessary. I am regularly asked, “How much time do we need to devote to planning?” And just saying, “Enough” doesn't work. I have come up with a general rule: Devote 10 percent of the project duration to planning.
- Planning will always be cheaper than correcting mistakes. When resources are scarce, our room for error becomes narrower. Therefore, planning becomes one of the most valuable methods to reduce the cost of a project.
- Developing a simple Gantt chart does not equal planning. A project plan is an integrated collection of documents that includes, at the very least, a scope plan, time plan and cost plan. These, among other important elements, together help to assure success in every aspect of the project.
All too often, project managers are overconfident that their previous experience is an excuse to not properly plan a project. Always stress the importance and value of planning, strategizing your moves and using the plan as a way to communicate and align all the project team members. This is especially key if you are working with a multicultural team, where people will have different ideas about what a plan should be and how important it is to have a detailed road map of the work ahead. PM
Roberto Toledo, MBA, PMP, is managing director of Alpha Consultoría, and a trainer and consultant who works across Latin America. He can be reached at [email protected].
ASIA PACIFIC WATCH
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Avoiding jargon and providing realistic data can be the key to effective communication.
From earned value management to work breakdown structures, project management is rife with terms specific to the profession. However, while these terms are familiar to trained project managers worldwide, there's a good chance they're completely unknown to managers trained in organizations and societies that have different approaches to doing business.
As such, it's not surprising that misunderstandings and confusion among stakeholders can easily arise. (In fact, stakeholders might not even be aware that they are being called “stakeholders.”)
The general business community frequently uses the same words in a similar context but applies completely different meanings. Project managers say one thing, and others understand something else completely.
Add in a few TLAs (that is, three-letter acronyms) and total misunderstanding can ensue. When you mention the threats and opportunities in the RBS, you're obviously thinking of the risk breakdown structure—but your stakeholder may be wondering why the Royal Bank of Scotland is suddenly involved in the project.
Because one of the keys to project success is managing stakeholder expectations, this is a major risk. Good communication requires feedback. You must be sure the recipients fully understand what information you're conveying, including all of the message's nuances.
False Expectations
Most project managers who are accustomed to dealing with stakeholders from other parts of the business, other organizations or other cultures understand these issues. They will carefully construct all of their communications and test for understanding. But even this level of care may not be enough. They must ensure that the information itself does not create false expectations. This is particularly important when preparing time and cost estimates.
In many parts of Asia, managers will not provide a precise estimate unless they are absolutely certain they can achieve exactly what's promised.
However, as project managers, we routinely use scheduling tools that calculate very specific estimates. They'll predict that a task will be complete at, say, 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday in four months, simply because this is the output from the approximations entered into the schedule. Or that the total cost of the project will be AU$10,986,547.55, because the estimating system churned out that summary total.
These values may be precise, but they're not precisely accurate. As professional project managers, we know all estimates are subject to a degree of variability. When the actual work is done, each task will take a slightly different amount of time to complete and will cost slightly more or less than planned. However, many other people will translate the precision of the estimate into an expectation that the work will be performed exactly as planned.
Estimates made in more general terms are no less valid and can avoid creating this type of false expectation. Achieving a detailed estimate for a US$11 million project to within -5 to +10 percent would indicate a very careful estimating process in a stable, informed environment. The same estimate, calculated to the nearest cent, raises stakeholders' expectations and may result in the project being perceived as a failure when their expectations are not realized.
Effective communication with stakeholders requires project managers to look at the data generated by their spreadsheets and scheduling tools and then condense this information into a succinct summary. Unnecessary detail and pseudo-accuracy should be removed. Instead, simplify information and frame it in realistic terms.
When project managers effectively communicate realistic information, they create reasonable expectations—and everyone involved is more likely to view the project as a success. PM
Lynda Bourne, DPM, PMP, is the managing director of Stakeholder Management pty Ltd. and director of training at Mosaic Project Services pty Ltd., both in Australia. Dr. Bourne graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology as the first professional doctor of project management. She is president of the PMI Melbourne Chapter.