Day #43: Gender Pay Gap

We are almost at the end of the blog... so it's time to bring up again an important subject: the gender pay gap. To do so, we will use an article from the Financial Times which uses data for masters in management rankings over the past decade, for alumni three years after graduation. Some facts illustrated with figures:

• Three years after graduating with a masters in management, the median salary for men is higher than for women in every sector of employment. Healthcare and finance have the greatest gender pay gap.
• When the pay of men and women is compared by seniority, women are ahead only in mid-level management positions.
• Finance and consultancy have always been the top destinations of Masters in Management graduates. Together, they represent 45-50% of the alumni.
• Law, finance and consultancy are the sectors with the highest salaries.
• Most alumni who moved to a different country after graduating in MiM see a rise in salary, specially in healthcare. Law is the only sector where movers see a lower mean salary.

Image from ft.com

Day #42: Processes flow in PM

This week's video is not as funny as the procrastination monkey - you enjoyed it, didn't you? - but more academic instead. Side note: if you don't know what the procrastination monkey is, go check the post from last Friday. Everything else can wait!

Today's video shows the elaboration of the PMBOK processes flow, so it is very helpful to understand how that works. Besides, we can jump to the process group we are interested in: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring/controlling and closing. Besides, there are links to Ricardo Vargas website - he is the Youtuber - where we can download the processes flow in different languages and in the simplified or complex version. Very useful!

Day #41: 7 Things Project Managers Should Never Say in a Job Interview

Apparently, we had a really nice time last week going through lists and rankings... so let's continue. It makes sense, in some way, since short lists with appealing titles are extremely good click-baits. Maybe not the 130 influencers in PM in 2019, but anyway.

Today we have 7 things project managers should never say in a job interview. First, I will list them all so that you can reflect on them. Then, a short explanation about why these are not convenient things to say.

1. “How do I go about creating a project plan? I start by gathering the requirements, then I analyze product feasibility and user needs…”
2. “Every project I’ve managed has come in on time and under-budget. After all, I have five certifications, so I’m bound to be successful.”
3. “The most complex project I have managed had a schedule comprised of three to four activities.”
4. “My last project failed because the company had bad processes.”
5. “I usually hand off final issues such as bugs, integration problems or emerging regulatory issues to another team once a project is completed or begins the closing phase.”
6. “If the CIO personally selected me to manage an important new project, I would say ‘yes’ no matter how many projects are on my plate.”
7. “If one member is dragging down the team’s performance, I would compare their performance to the stated goals and expectations and possibly put them on a performance improvement plan.”

Image from forbes.com

Answers...

1. Bad terminology! You shouldn't use lifecycle terms to describe an approach to projects, instead of PM terms such as scope, budgeting, scheduling...
2. It's impossible that all projects are successful... That's life!
3. Complex projects have schedules comprised of 300 or more activities, so you are lacking a couple of zeroes. 
4. Take responsibility!
5. Again, take responsibility. Closing a project is important.
6. That doesn't say much about your workload management.
7. Emotional intelligence and empathy would be welcomed here.

Day #40: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator

As you already know, there is no better way to start the weekend than watching a fun video. This is one of my favourite TED Talks ever. I just love it! And I think it can be applied to everyone, not only project managers. 

By the way, we are starting the countdown towards the end of the course (and the blog!). Next Thursday will be the last day... so no more Friday videos. That is another reason to double enjoy Tim Urban's procrastination monkey!

Day #39: 7 Things Project Managers Should Do Every Quarter

Some weeks ago, I found this interesting article, 7 Things Project Managers Should Do Every Quarter. I liked it because the beginning is very captivating. It talks about how members of choirs learn by repetition, even if they are not extremely accomplished musicians. This method works for PM as well: there are some activities that should be repeated to achieve harmony in the management routine. Here they are:

1. Tend your email: answer, forward or delete... at least two thirds can be deleted!

2. Update yourself on the project's status

3. Learn from our successes or failures

4. Don't hide from problems

5. De-clutter your personal space: a cluttered desk is the sign of an organized mind? Not true!

6. Communicate with everyone

7. Show appreciation

I think that everybody, not only project managers, can make use of the advice!

Not a sign of genius... Image from rightattitudes.com

Day #37: 130 Top Project Management Influencers of 2019

It looks like this week is all about rankings! Today we bring a list of 130 Top Management Influencers of 2019, from the expert website The Digital Project Manager. According to them, this list includes the brightest minds and influential thinkers who are shaping the PM industry today. 

In my opinion, a list like this is too long. Do we really need to keep track of 130 brilliant mind each year? However, it can be good to keep as a reference and tool for future investigation in the field. For example, it was nice to find Jennifer Bridges in the 12th place. She is the director of ProjectManager.com, whose videos I have shared a couple of times in this blog.

But even nicer for me was to find Carlos J. Pampliega, from Spain, in the list. Actually in the 6th place! One tends to think that this kind of new sectors mostly appear in the US, yet there are powerful thinkers from all around the world and at local scales.

Long rankings are a bit too much, but there is always valuable information in them. Image from universityintheusa.com

Day #36: Top 50 Most Influential Projects of the Last 50 Years

A couple of weeks ago, PMI announced the top 50 notable and influential projects of the past 50 years. It is the first time that PMI publishes a ranking of this kind, and the goal is to highlight the relevance of PM.

The idea was to recognize projects that have transformed their sectors and the business landscape, from healthcare to technology and from entertainment to finance. There are iconic achievements such as Apollo 11 or the Human Genome Project, but the top place of the list is for the creation of the World Wide Web.

50 projects were chosen from more than 1,000 projects identified by 400 experts in PM, including PMI members, academic and industry experts. The list is part of the PMI 50th anniversary celebration, and there are some extra runner ups apart from the main list. 

More information together with the full list can be found here, but some of the most "unexpected" ones are:

• Alibaba® Singles Day – For creating the largest e-commerce day in the world and fundamentally shifting how people shop.
• Burj Khalifa – For standing tall as a symbol of economic diversification in the Middle East
• Harry Potter® Books – For making reading cool – and that’s just the beginning of the magic
• Chernobyl Cleanup – For mitigating the world’s worst nuclear plant disaster – twice

and one that we already mentioned in this blog!

• E-Estonia – For building the world’s first digital country

Sydney Opera House, one of the awarded projects. Image from tripadvisor.com

Panama Channel, one of the awarded projects. Image from britannica.com

Day #34: KPI and metrics

We keep being inspired by the course assignment! In order to evaluate business strategy and BRM policies, we quite often make use of KPIs or Key Performance Indicators. But the digital era and the progressive digitization and digitalization in our society make difficult to measure the return of investment (ROI). Old ROI metrics focused on efficiencies, but today they should talk about revenue and customer experience.

That is very well described in the article How to measure IT ROI in the digital era, from a website called The Enterprisers Project, a community helping IT leaders to solve problems.

Specific metrics are considered and split in three categories: strategic, operational and cost impact. Examples of the strategic impact metrics are the customer retention or the time to market for new services. Operational impact metrics might include increase in scale and operational efficiencies. Finally, cost impact metrics are related to business costs or total cost of ownership assets.

Besides, how many IT ROI metrics do you need? Answer below the picture!

a) One is enough
b) Two or three
c) Five to nine
d) Around 15
e) As much as possible

Image from getthematic.com

And the answer, according to Paul Proctor, analyst at Gartner, is.... c! 

Day #31: Determining projects, programs and portfolios

Now that we are more than halfway through the course, it has been time to work on some assignments. Despite having read the recommended literature, sometimes it is difficult to fully gasp all concepts. Specially because in the PMI books there are no examples. Of course, that makes complete sense since it is a guide and not an academic book, yet it can be obscure for people not used to the field. 

One of the first issues I encountered in the assignment was to distinguish between the programs and portfolios in a real company. I have read the differences many times, even watched and posted some videos about it, but I still needed to find some examples to relate (shame on me!).

This is one good example that I found, applied to the aeronautic industry. This is another example with clothes and shoes. And finally this is yet another example with paint. Now it should be easier to apply concepts from PMI to real life... maybe not to those complex multinational companies, but surely at a medium level. Good luck!

Image from inc.com

Day #30: As work gets more complex, 6 rules to simplify

I really like to start the weekend with inspirational videos, or short talks that make me think. Today, it is a TED Talk called As work gets more complex, 6 rules to simplify. I really like the starting point: we may feel disengaged at work because businesses are more dizzy and complex... and traditional management is obsolete. 

The speaker is Yves Morieux, a senior partner at BCG who calls his approach "smart simplicity" and encourages employees to cooperate to solve long-term problems. 

Happy weekend!

Day #29: Porter's Five Forces

At yesterday's post we mentioned several analysis tools that were used in the report, like SWOT, PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces. The former two are very well know, or at least more familiar to the reader. The latter is also widely used, but it may be hidden deeper in our memory. So let's review it!

Porter's Five Forces analysis helps to determine the competition level at a certain industry, therefore it is useful when starting a new business or expanding to a new sector. Basically, the state of competition depends on five forces:

• Threat of new entrants, which depends on the barriers to enter a certain industry. For example, such threat is low in the airline industry - important investments are needed - but it is quite high in the app market - almost everybody can launch a new app!.

• Bargaining power of suppliers, which depends on the number of suppliers and on whether it is easy or not for a company to find a substitute supplier and switch. For example, the power of suppliers is high in the airline industry - how many aircraft manufacturers can you think of?.

• Bargaining power of buyers, which depends on how much pressure buyers can put on a company. It is also related to the buyer's sensitivity to price changes and how easy it is for them to switch from one company to another. For example, in the airline industry such power is high - there are a lot of alternatives and the choice tends to be cost-driven -, but for Apple customers it is very difficult to move to another OS once they have become used to iOS products.

• Threat of substitute products, which depends on how many similar products there are in the market which respond to the same customer need. For example, threat of substitute products in the smartphone manufacturing industry can be considered as high - there are lots of brands to choose from!

• Rivalry among existing competitors, which depends on the total number of competitors and what each competitor can do. For example, in the airline industry there is a high rivalry between airlines.

Image from travelandleisure.com

Day #26: Portofolio Management and Japanese renewable energy

As we have mentioned many times, the PMI is not only the main association in the PM world, but also a very useful source to keep ourselves informed. 

In particular, there are interesting news regarding portfolio management. For example this piece of news, Sustainable Change, which talks about how the Japanese energy industry changed after Fukushima. The author, Rajeev Supekar, has managed renewable energy projects in Japan for years. He explains the factors that helped a whole country to embrace the disruption and use it to make a transition towards renewable energies. 

Now that energy and climate are in the centre of all discourses, it can be a good idea to take Japan as an example. Besides, articles like this can help us understand the transversality of portfolio management. 

Image from nrdc.org

Note that many articles from PMI can be accessed just by creating a free account at PMI website, without getting a full membership!

Day #25: Agile methodology & Project Management

Agile methodology is a key concept for anyone interested in PM, or working at a big company. In short, agile is a software development methodology which is based on iterative development. Ideas, requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organized teams. Scrum and Kanban are two of the most widely used Agile methodologies. 

Image from spiinc.com

Agile project management is widely used, yet sometimes not in the best possible way. In this article, Beware the dark side of agile project management, some hints are given about how do a useful and correct agile project management, as well as some reasons why it's needed. 

Have a nice weekend!