Project Management Discussion Group

Planning or scheduling?

My nephew is telling me of his adventures (and misadventures) during his field work in Cyprus for his final project of the Master at the university. He has lots to pack in a short period of time, with a variety of very operational tasks to be planned and executed with his colleagues, while maintaining focus on the objective of his short stay. He is operating in a new and challenging environment, with an interesting team dynamics and an original project leadership.

We happened to discuss the differences between planning and scheduling. I thought I knew the difference, but I confess that I tried to dodge the question. In the end, I had to read a few articles in order to provide him with a sensible answer. I also realised that in other articles on this blog I may have used the term “planning” and “schedule” as synonyms.

Maybe this is not entirely correct? Let’s see if you agree, see the new article now available under the Pages section (link). As usual, I will be happy to receive comments and constructive feedback.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

Change: the future

The fourth and final article of the series about Change is now posted and available under the Pages section on the blog – here is the link. In this article I wanted to look at the future of change.

As pointed out by a report by the APM (the Association for Project Management) about the future of the project management profession, “..the landscape today is increasingly defined by two vitally important features. The first is widespread uncertainty and a sense that change is happening faster and faster”.

It looks like change in projects is going to be a permanent and recurring feature. I expanded on this aspect to find some possible guiding leads that could help the project management professionals.

I hope you enjoy reading the article. I also hope that the whole series was of interest and, as usual, I will be happy to receive comments and constructive feedback.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

Change: the process

The third article of the series about Change is now posted and available under the Pages section on the blog – here is the link. Having explored the various types of changes in a project and the individual attitude toward change, in this article I explored the process for change.

Photo by Startup Stock Photos on Pexels.com

I have not re-traced processes and approaches that are covered in the PM training courses, but looked more generally to a possible high level approach. I connected to the AKDAR model presented in the previous article. The exact methodology will have to be adapted to each project’s circumstances, but I think the ADKAR could be a model of general application, offering a solid frame for an effective change management process.

I hope the article will be of interest and, as usual, I will be happy to receive comments and constructive feedback.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

Change: the acceptance

The second article of the new series about Change is now posted and available under the Pages section on the blog – here is the link. In the previous article I looked at the types of changes that can be encountered in a project. In the second article I explored the reasons for our struggle in facing, accepting, delivering and sustaining change.

The acceptance of change is tricky. This goes to the root of our way of thinking, the complexity of our mind and our emotions, the essence of us, being humans. The subject of acceptance is actually really close to me. Too often I have been told that I don’t like change, that I don’t accept things that don’t go in my way, that I am not entrepreneurial and that I do not take enough risks. This is probably one of the reasons for such an interest in the subject!

I may not be qualified to cover this subject exhaustively, so please take the considerations below as a very personal view on the subject.

I hope the article will be of interest and, as usual, I will be happy to receive comments and constructive feedback.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

Change: the facets

The first article of the new series about Change is now posted and available under the Pages section on the blog – here is the link. In the article I wanted to explore the multiple types of change, in the context of project management.

I cannot resist and I have to share this photo, as a short introduction to the subject. It was taken many years ago during one of my nephew’s riding sessions with my brother up and down the hills outside Verona (Italy). They reached a junction and my nephew was so intrigued by the signpost:

“If we can go to all these places by turning right, where can we go by turning left?”

.. he asked his dad. This is an example of the curiosity, lateral thinking and the desire for change that the young boy was already cultivating, quite common probably in all the kids of that age. It also shows that change should be controlled. That training session had a plan, a timetable and a route, so change was, in that case, not an option. I think years later my nephew went back to that junction, to explore what was on the left!

I hope this first article will be of interest and a good introduction to the subject. I will be happy to receive comments and constructive feedback.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

Our struggle with change

Our struggle with change is back on the business agenda.

The last two years have seen organisations struggling with disruptions to supply chains, to the workforce and markets. Individuals have been affected in many ways with the loss of the job or with forced changes to the professional or personal plans. Many of us have been forced to change the way we work and the way we relate with colleagues and customers. We had to learn new skills that we did not even imagine we needed. We may have even changed the view of the world, our political view, how we rate our NHS, our attitude toward science and technology. For many of us it has been a real struggle, sadly aggravated by the premature loss of members of the family, friends and colleagues.

The unique circumstances caused by the pandemic, my personal struggle and some books and articles that I read gave me the inspiration to write about change. I would like to reflect about the many facets of change, why we have this difficulty in facing and embracing change and, of course, make a connection with the project management profession.

All project management organisations will have in their training programmes detailed modules for change management. I will not review those approaches or propose alternative ways. I will give a personal commentary, up for scrutiny and debate.

Please keep in touch for these new articles. Those who follow the blog should receive the notification once the articles are available. I am not sure how many articles I will write – I would like to have an option for a … last-minute change!

I hope this series will be of interest and, as usual, I will be happy to receive comments and constructive feedback.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

Stakeholder Management

In this new series of articles I would like to reflect on Stakeholder Management, a subject incredibly important for the project management profession. I aim to provide some basic definitions, but also reflect on best practices, current and near-future challenges.

In all project management accreditation programmes there is a considerable emphasis on stakeholder management. Projects are about bringing change to organisations and society. It is said that “if there is no change, there is no project“. And the projects do not take place in a vacuum. There are people, with all their biases, at the project inception and all along the project lifecycle: those individuals actively involved in promoting and striving for the change, the beneficiaries, the sponsors or the investors, the passive bystanders and those who can be unintendedly affected by the project activities or the final outcome.

Change can be uncomfortable and the project success (in its wider meaning) is dependant on effective and continuous management of the stakeholders’ views, expectations and acceptance of the project.

Please keep in touch for these new articles. Those following the blog will receive the notification once the articles are available. [Please note that the first and second articles have been already posted.]

I hope this series will be of interest and, as usual, I will be happy to receive comments and constructive feedback.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

Knowledge Management

I have read a great book about knowledge management (KM), “Knowledge Management in Theory and Practice” by Kimiz Dalkir. This book gave me the inspiration for a new short series of articles.

I cannot claim to be an expert in the subject of KM, but I would like to share my learnings and provide my take on what knowledge management is, how it can be approached and, more importantly, reflect on how the management of knowledge might apply to projects and to the project management profession.

In the first article I covered the basics of KM. In the second article I looked at the options in putting KM into practice. In the third article I reflected on the challenges for the management of knowledge as applied to project management. In the final article, I tried to provide some recommendations for the effective project knowledge management.

I hope this series is of interest and, as usual, I will be happy to receive comments and constructive feedback.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

Planning software: an update

One of the first articles on this blog was about Planning software, published back in October 2019 (such a long time ago!). In that article I tried to navigate the vast list of solutions available on the market. Recently I was pointed to a review of top Project Management Software products by G2.

G2 (formerly G2 Crowd) is a peer-to-peer review site headquartered in Chicago, Illinois (USA). The company focus is the aggregation of user reviews for business software. G2 scores products and sellers based on reviews gathered from their user community, as well as data aggregated from online sources and social networks. Together, these scores are mapped on the proprietary G2 Grid® (see example below), which readers can use to compare products, streamline the buying process and quickly identify the best products based on the experiences of the peers.

This is the link to the G2 assessment of Project Management Software.

On the website there is also a useful guide to assist through the selection and decision-making process for choosing the suitable product. I found the section about ‘Project Management Software Trends’ quite informative.

From the website it is also possible the reach the website of the individual vendors.

Those interested in investing for a planning platform should definitely have a look as things have definitely changed over the last few years.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.

News!

This is to announce two new series of articles. There is a series of short articles on performance dashboards and another series on process improvement.

Both series are now complete (see under the Blog Pages section, “Process Improvement” and “Performance dashboards – introduction“).

Why these two topics?

Performance dashboards are essential tools for project management. I have researched the subject and also recently read a very interesting reference book. I wanted to share my take and experience on the subject .

And what about the second topic? I have already written on the blog about “lean thinking” and the importance that this ethos has for organisations and in particular for project management. With this new series I wanted to cover the process improvement in greater detail, as the process improvement can be key in leading organisations into this way of working.

Those already following this blog have received the notification once the articles have been posted. I hope these two series have been of interest and, as usual, I will be happy to receive comments and constructive feedback.

Marco Bottacini, Senior Portfolio Manager at GALVmed

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinion of GALVmed.