Elizabeth Harrin's Blog, page 9

How to use a bullet journal for project management

How do you manage your projects? If you're anything like me, you've got a notebook on your desk right now.

Whatever it is you’re managing you’ll probably use, or need, a tool to help you do it. Maybe it’s a Trello board, a Kanban board, a system of sticky notes…Asana, Toggl… a wall calendar and planner, or a combination of them all!

What remains the same is that there is a lot to manage. And a lot to remember. There are different tasks, different meetings, and multiple deadlines to meet.

Ideas, notes, and dates for your diary.

You might have multiple long-term projects on the go, as well as smaller one-off tasks.

And then there’s all the other stuff filling up your headspace…all the good stuff outside of work.

It can be overwhelming.

So, could structuring your notepad bullet-journal style be a solution? A way to manage the feeling of overwhelm and easily and confidently manage your project? Let's get into why a bullet journal (whether you go electronic or stay on paper) could be the answer.

Bullet journal basics: the productivity tool you didn't know you needed

The bullet journal system’s creator Ryder Carroll describes his simple method of daily journaling as:

“The mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system”.

A quick Google search for bullet journals presents you with an array of beautifully crafted and decorated page layouts though, and you would be forgiven for thinking it’s just a very pretty (and time-consuming!) way of creating to-do lists.

But, at its most basic level – and that’s where you should start – it’s made up of a simple system of 4 different components:

the Indexa Future Logthe Monthly Logthe Daily Log.

These components combine elements of the essential project management tools – a task list, notebook, and calendar – in one.

If bullet journaling sounds like it's too much effort for you, check out my guide for how to structure your notebook for work, to stay organized without having to go full on bullet-y!

Get organized with the Index

Sitting at the front of your journal, the Index page acts as a table of contents, allowing you to quickly and easily find what you’re looking for.

Dedicated indexes can be created separately to manage multiple or complex projects and to make these accessible at a glance.

Your index doesn't need to slow you down. Bilyana Ivanova from TheCasualReader recommends the 'threading' method for physical notebooks.

"I choose symbols to represent different types of content—a dot is for tasks, a circle for events, a dash is for notes, and so on," she says. "It doesn’t have to follow this specific system; you can choose whichever symbols you like or use color coding instead.

"Then, whenever something on one page connects to another, I write the page number of the related information next to the symbol. This way, I can quickly jump between connected content without flipping back and forth through my index."

Read next: 20 Practical tips to get (and stay) organized at work

Look ahead with a Future Log

A Future Log is your planner for a quick-to-view look ahead at the next 6 months (or more). You can add important events, deadlines, and dates which is ideal for long-term projects. Important things live here.

If you have a new project on the horizon, drop it in here, along with any important dates to reference as you get closer to kicking it off. This supports your planning system by making sure nothing falls through the cracks and you don’t forget about commitments or longer-term priorities.

Later on you can create project plans for upcoming work, or transfer the details into your project management software.

Stay on track with the Monthly Log

This acts as both a calendar and a task list for the month ahead. The Monthly Log helps you to keep track of what’s coming up over the next few weeks.

It is set across a 2-page spread and makes it easy to see where you’ll be busier and where you have time to take on more. Ideal when you’re managing multiple projects, which is something you can learn more about here.

The monthly spread is a new idea for me but I use a similar view in Outlook. Digital tools aren’t really the go-to product of choice for bullet journaling but if you can’t break away from your screen, then take a look around and see what note-taking app is going to give you the closest results as a notebook.

Manage the day-to-day with the Daily Log 

The Daily Log works at a day-to-day level to detail specific tasks, events, and notes. Each action item is listed with a set of symbols making it easy to differentiate between what you need to do and what you need to remember.

The things you need to do are your next actions. Think of this section as your To-Do list for a single day. Tomorrow, you’ll have a new page and a new Daily Log.

Prioritize your tasks with icons

"Important tasks can get buried in the clutter of to-do lists," says Karolina Dacheva from Businessmap. "Prioritize your tasks. I personally like using signifiers like stars or underlining for high-priority tasks."

I use the following legend for my tasks:

A (in a circle): ActionD (in a circle): means Decision, to be transferred to the Decision logStar: ImportantTwo stars: Must be done today!

I know other people use a different approach, such as using an empty circle for scheduled meetings, exclamation marks for important tasks or a question mark for something that needs a bit more investigation.

Find a set of icons that works for you and that gives you a structure you can carry forward on every page.

The daily log isn’t a daily schedule in the same way that your calendar is (although if you wanted to use it that way, you could). Instead, it’s more of a prompt for the actions you need to take and important information.

Capture and reflect

Two further elements then combine to make the whole bullet journal system work.

Rapid Logging – a process of adding short notes to your Daily Log allowing you to capture all that stuff whizzing around in your head on paper.Daily Reflections (which Ryder suggests you do morning and evening). Take stock of what’s ahead each day and reassess tasks and deadlines accordingly.

It’s an effective productivity system to help keep you focused on the next important task while not losing sight of the bigger picture.

How do you use a bullet journal in project management?

"I use a two-bullet journal system to stay organized," says high performance coach Paul Ippolito. "My day-to-day journal captures everything from time blocking, ideas, thoughts, and to-do lists, indexed at the back by topic and page number. Once a week, I review, cull and update the items in this journal, updating larger issues onto their own pages and transferring significant project items to the separate project-based journal."

Paul also reviews the major project journal once a week and picks 1-2 things he wants to focus on for the week ahead. "This method, refined over years, works well for me," he says. "The key I think is experimenting with various systems until you find what works."

You can probably already start to see how the bullet journal works well for project managers. We have to stay organized and have an effective way to track actions and not lose anything – the whole system might be analog but it lends itself to work projects and the work schedule that comes with leading a project.

Use other pages in your journal for meeting notes or a brain dump following a conversation with colleagues. Create a list of contact information for key stakeholders Then reference those in the index.

But beyond these basic components and your personal preferences for extra info is where the bullet journal comes into its own.

Collections

Collections are groups of individual tasks and notes that are joined by a common theme. So, a particular project or topic can be pulled together in one place rather than scattered throughout your journal. This makes it super easy to see everything related to the project in one go.

Collections can span as many pages as needed and are all referenced in your Index.

For example, I have a collection centered around the professional development training I want to do as part of my personal goals.

Migration

Migration is the way that the bullet journal system gives you the headspace to think more clearly.

Migrating tasks means you simply move them to a more relevant place. This might be to your next page of Daily Logs, your next Monthly Log, the Future Log, or to a Collection. Or even out of the bullet log when the time comes for your project management process to take over.

"I find the best way to leverage the simplicity of a bullet journal and integrate it into a more structured project management platform," says Elisa Montanari, from Wrike. "So, I might quickly jot ideas, tasks, and quick reflections down during the day, then transfer high-level project tasks or deadlines from the platform into daily and weekly spreads."

What about those tasks that keep getting bounced? Once you’ve moved an unresolved task along for several days in a row, you’ll start to work out whether it’s as important, whether it’s blocked by something else, or if it simply isn’t needed anymore.

Don’t think of migration as extra work. Yes, you have to move tasks around and that time might be better spent doing them. Instead, look at migration as a way to help you to weed out the tasks that are causing distraction from what you actually need to be doing.

Bullet journals in practice

Many project managers already use bullet journals effectively. 

A survey carried out by Bullet Journal in 2016, asked 205 project managers specifically about how effective they found bullet journaling for their work.

And 77% stated that it made managing tasks easier or significantly easier as a project manager.

They recognized that “Project managers need an entirely higher level of organization than most.”

(That’s the truth!)

The results of the survey concluded that the bullet journal can “significantly improve task management for professionals whose jobs depend on it.” So, it must be doing something right!

Go online with a digital bullet journal

"What also works for me is combining both digital and traditional methods to keep track of my projects," says Bilyana. "You can’t copy and paste links in a physical notebook, right? That’s why I use both: one for more sporadic note-taking throughout the day, and the other online, where I can organize resources in a database."

If you're not a paper person, look into online tools and apps that will help you organize your thoughts digitally.

Why is bullet journaling so good for project managers?

A journal for project management might seem like overkill. I mean, you probably already have a notebook. But isn't that filled with chronological notes, whether you use OneNote to keep your digital records straight or a paper notebook?

A bullet journal helps you layout your ideas in a different way, as well as track ideas for future projects, and reflect on the challenges and lessons learned along the way.

So how is the bullet journal system different from all those other methods you’ve tried before? And why should you give it a go as a project manager?

It’s fast

"For me, time blocking is essential for managing tasks that keeps me disciplined, but not obsessive or too regimented," says Paul. "I prioritize the 1-2 most important items to do early in the day, while remaining flexible with non-essential tasks and unscheduled things."

The last thing you need is another time-consuming job to add to the list. And this is part of the beauty of bullet journals. They’re fast, and you can block the time to use them, and to do the work.

Rapid Logging means it’s simple to add a new task or deadline or to just get down on paper those random thoughts that pop up while you’re in the middle of something else.

Adding it to the right place means no more wondering where you wrote it down or getting distracted by an email or notification as you pick up your phone to open your app.

It’s mindful

We’re all after better ways to do things that not only impact the work we do but our own wellbeing too. And writing by hand is proven to increase neural activity in the brain that is similar to meditation.

The process of writing things down helps to declutter your mind. Allowing time for your brain to think more clearly about what you’re working on.

It’s not just for work

It’s fair to say that whatever is going on at home will impact work and vice versa, and the mental load is something we can’t ignore.

So, although it’s up to you whether you combine your work and personal to-do lists and plans in your bullet journal, it can be incredibly useful to do so to be able to focus on the right thing at the right time.

"It's easy to overlook the importance of breaks," says Karolina. "On a separate page, chalk out leisure activities or personal growth tasks that can be accomplished during breaks to effectively use your downtime."

Some people choose to have a separate bullet journal for their personal life, as a good way of keeping things straight. Personally, I think work and life are entwined and I want my calendar view to include everything I’m doing on any given day.

It’s flexible

The key to making a bullet journal work for you is to make it your own. The whole method is designed to work in a way that suits you, so you can stay on top of things.

"My best advice is to try different layouts and spreads until you find what works for you," recommends Elisa. "It’s okay if things get ugly or messy—bullet journals aren’t about minimalist perfection but utilizing the flexible nature of the setup to adapt to you. Don’t try too many things simultaneously to avoid getting overwhelmed and giving up."

So, if you want to get creative then go for it. If you’d rather it be your own ink smudged, scribbled masterpiece then it doesn’t matter. Do what feels right for you.

How should you get started with a bullet journal?Step 1: Get a notebook and pen

As simple as it sounds, the first step is to get yourself a new notepad and pen. Don’t just use something you’ve already got, start afresh. Something that’s easy to carry around and access every day, no matter where you are.

A daily planner is probably not the best choice as you’ll find the pages are pre-printed with a structure that you might not find conducive to bullet journaling. However, you can buy ‘original bullet journal method’ notebooks if you want one that has already done some of the organizing for you.

Otherwise, just buy a blank notebook and make it your own.

If you're going down the digital journal route, have a look at some of the tools available and choose one to start with.

Step 2: Practice the basics

Start small but start properly. Start with the basics of Index, Future Log, Monthly Log, and Daily Log. Watch this intro video to get started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm15c...

Break things down into small tasks. Start from where you are and with a clear intention of what you want to achieve. And don’t worry about messing up!

Step 3: Make the time every day

Dedicate the time. Bullet journaling shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes a day. But if you’re already thinking you’ve not got the time then try checking your journal instead of your inbox first thing every morning for a week.

A weekly review will help you migrate tasks and build bullet journaling into the way you do time management.

Next week, do the same!

Make it a habit every day and you’ll soon start to see results.

Your next steps

Get yourself a notebook. I love Moleskin, but also these Stationery Island books.

Then simply get started! You can spend too long wondering how and in practice I found it was easier to get started and tweak my system as I went along.

The bullet journal method offers a unique, flexible solution that combines essential project management components into a cohesive, customizable system. By integrating the Index, Future Log, Monthly Log, and Daily Log, bullet journaling helps streamline your workflow and improve your productivity.

The beauty of the bullet journal lies in its simplicity and adaptability. Whether you choose to stick with paper or go digital, the bullet journal method allows you to capture and organize your thoughts effectively, making it easier to manage both professional and personal tasks. It encourages mindfulness and prioritization, ensuring that you stay focused on what truly matters.

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

11 Project management skills employers expect you to have

Let's say that we’re almost at the end of the quarter and you’re thinking what a great year it’s been so far at work. Your thoughts turn to what you should be doing for your professional development in the months ahead… and there’s a lot of choice.

I don’t have the time (or the requirement) to take a certification course, but I’m always prepared to develop the project management competencies I need to succeed. If you feel the same, what should you be focusing on?

In this article we'll talk about the top competencies for project managers and how you can develop your skills.

The core competencies you need as a project manager today

The project management skills you should be looking to develop are definitely ‘soft’ or interpersonal skills (also called power skills) in their widest form.

Soft skills include a huge range of topics from communication to leadership, stakeholder engagement and teamwork.

Plus, there are technical skills we have to consider -- employers definitely look for those too. We do need to be able to do the hard work of leading projects as well as the collaboration side of it!

If you consider competency frameworks from the Association for Project Management (APM), or the guidance from the Project Management Institute (PMI), there are many more core skills listed.

In my 20+ years of experience doing the job and mentoring people who do the job, the ones I cover below are those that are most likely to ‘move the needle’ in your career, so that’s what we are focusing on in this article.

Let’s look at each of those in turn.

1. Communication

Effective communication is top of my list because it’s core to what we are trying to do as project managers: effect change.

One in five projects is unsuccessful due to ineffective communication, according to research by PMI (The Essential Role of Communications, 2013).

A project manager’s primary responsibility is to complete the project’s objectives with the resources provided within the agreed budget and schedule.

A communication plan is typically developed to successfully achieve that. That plan outlines the type and frequency of project communication, and any actions expected from various team members and stakeholders as information is distributed.

Sahil Sandhu’s research at the Harrisburg University concludes the same:

Effective communication came out top in the empirical research study into the order of importance that project managers ascribe to various competencies.

An effective project manager also communicates in a variety of ways including:

Written e.g. newsletters, reportsVerbal e.g. presentationsNonverbal (although you won’t necessarily be conscious of this all the time!)Video (recorded or live)

and more. You will likely spend 60% of your time (or more) on communication – yes, it’s that important. Effective communication can be the deciding factor between whether a project succeeds or fails in the eyes of the stakeholder.

2. Leadership

A project manager typically lacks formal authority over the resources on a project. In other words, the project team doesn’t report to you directly. They all have line managers of their own, and that can create some tension between their ‘home’ team and the project team in terms of responsibility and where their focus lies.

Regardless, the ability to inspire a team to action is a hallmark trait of a great project manager. They can take a diverse group of individuals, form a high performing team, and get them dedicated to achieving a common goal.

Developing leadership skills should be a priority, even though you probably don’t have hierarchical responsibility over the team. You don’t need to be top of the tree to be a good leader.

3. Self-awareness

We all have limits. A successful project manager will recognize their own limits and shortcomings. They don’t need to “do” all of the things, but they should know their strengths and those of others.

This lets them assign tasks to the best person for the job to achieve best outcomes. This also means they recognize where they may need to develop professionally and take proactive action to improve their own performance.

Self-awareness is one of the social competencies that help you operate effectively within the socio-political constraints of your organization.

4. Confidence

Project managers often find themselves in situations where they don’t have all of the information to make a decision or provide answers.

They must believe in themselves, be willing to take risks, and rely on their expert judgement. Having confidence is key, not only to ensure good outcomes, but to give others the general assurance that a project is under control.

Tip

You can be more confident in your outcomes if you work together (more on that later). For example, one of the top project scheduling mistakes I see is not co-creating the plan. When you bring the wisdom of the crowd to your work, you get a better result and something you can be confident delivering.

5. Resilience

A project manager is a high visibility role. Most will experience success and the occasional setback very publicly, more so if you are in a public sector role.

The ability to take everything in stride is of great importance because a team will often take their cues from you as their project lead. Having the ability to remain calm and bounce back after a challenge goes a long way and inspires confidence in their ability.

6. Teamwork

By default, a project manager works with teams of people - it is practically unavoidable. That’s why the best project managers are willing to share the successes but also accept responsibility for setbacks on a project. They are also willing to work with others and help the team when needed to accomplish a goal.

Lack of collaboration is one of the top roadblocks for projects so think about how you can create a culture where working together is the norm.

Tip

Think about the team structure you have set up. Is it conducive to collaborative working? If not, how could you improve it?

7. Business acumen

Business acumen is the ability to make good decisions and to use your professional judgement wisely.

In essence, this involves a thorough understanding of the business environment and financial context of your project, how it impacts the large picture, and proactively taking appropriate action(s).

For example, releasing some contingency reserves when project risk has been significantly reduced and it does not make sense to continue tying up funds. Juggling financial constraints can help the organization and show that you understand the importance of good budget management.

If you feel this is an area where you'd like to do more, get your company's annual report to read or investigate industry trends.

Read next: Business acumen for project managers

8. Influencing and negotiating

While we may work in a variety of environments, most of the time we do not have 100% control over the budget and resources allocated to the project.

In most cases, other departments ‘own’ the key resources that advise, support, and get the work done. As such, sometimes we need to use our influence to support project success.

This may mean negotiating for people’s time and availability or resetting priorities with internal or external customers, dealing with scope creep and so on. The ability to influence and negotiate with project stakeholders and decision makers is key.

It’s really important to consider project management ethics in negotiation and influencing to make sure you keep everything above board.

9. Networking

In addition to influence and negotiation skills, networking plays a big role in projects. This is where you can really use your emotional intelligence.

This includes knowing the right people who can help with a specific problem. This could also mean establishing positive working relationships with others so if you need their help (or vice versa) reaching an agreement is faster and easier.

Building your networking skills is important because your network can provide additional support for your project. If you can find the right person quickly, you can often get a better solution or resolve a problem before it becomes a real issue.

10. Stakeholder engagement

Project managers rely on stakeholders to support their projects, make decisions, take action, or provide additional resources.

Part of that is delivering on the project plan and keeping your stakeholders aware of any challenges and specific ways that they can help. Having positive workplace relationships with engaged stakeholders who offer their support can sometimes make the difference between project success and failure.

If you have to focus on just one core skill, make it stakeholder engagement.

We are seeing more projects being affected by community action and involvement, it really is possible for a project to get stopped because the wrong people were engaged (or overlooked). After all, problems don’t stop projects, people do.

We’ve already seen ‘stakeholder management’ evolve in the project management language to ‘stakeholder engagement’ and a new chapter appear in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). I think the area will grow in importance over the coming 10 years.

11. Technical competencies

There are also a wide range of technical skills you can build as a project manager, so when you are considering what development areas to focus on, it’s worth bearing these in mind as well:

Project risk managementQuality managementSelecting the right tools for the job and for tracking project performanceHuman resources management – the processes of recruiting and onboarding people into the teamProcurement and vendor managementFinancial management and budgetingPlanning and scheduling.

I would also include tailoring of project management methodologies, which is a cross-cutting skill.

You can probably think of other ‘hard skills’ that would be relevant as well, there are plenty!

Don't bother learning new project management tools

If you want to improve your technical project management skills, I would not bother to learn a new software tool.

There are so many, and the likelihood of your new company using something that you've learned how to use in your spare time is quite low.

Focus on making sure you're a power user of Microsoft Teams or the Google suite, or building your technical competencies generally. Investigate AI in project management, or subscribe to some YouTube channels instead.

How to spot competency gaps

So how do you know which of the core competencies for project managers you should be focusing on?

Or how do you best advise and influence your team on what skills they should be developing?

Project performance is the main warning sign that there is a competency gap.

When something is taking too long or feels hard on a project, that’s a clue that more skills are needed.

However, it’s not always easy to define what a skilled project manager’s performance should be when it comes to project results. And that’s why competency gaps sometimes go unnoticed.

What to look for

As a line manager or a Project Office manager, or someone who leads project managers, here is what to look for. These clues will help you spot competency gaps so you can develop a plan to address them.

Projects that skip between green and redProjects with a lot of ‘surprises’Projects with a long list of potential risks and issues that don’t seem to be managedComplaints from customers (that can be very telling!)The challenge of identifying project management competency gaps

It’s not often possible to benchmark the performance of project managers against each other because the projects they are working on differ so widely.

And if a project is stopped prematurely or cancelled you can’t immediately assume it was to do with the project manager’s poor performance: more and more we need to be reviewing and closing down projects that are not meeting their business case goals.

It’s no one’s fault a lot of the time, it’s just the way that the business has evolved around the project.

But I think you’ll know within yourself if your project isn’t going right and it’s because you don’t have the skills to manage it.

Watch for this

Knowing you have a competency gap is not the same as Imposter Syndrome! Imposter Syndrome is where you do have the skills really but you’re unable to recognize that they are there. This affects your confidence and leads you to spend far too much time worrying about what other people think of your performance. At its worst, it can undermine your career and hold you back from achieving the success you deserve.

Read next: Learn more about Imposter Syndrome here

How to develop your skills (and those of your team)

Understanding what you need to work on to improve your skills is the first step in working out how to develop them.

As a manager, peer reviews, project audits and quality reviews can be ways to identify project performance issues that might be an outlier due to competency (or lack of competency!)

Then you can follow up with conversations: you may find that the individual in question is perfectly aware that they don’t have the required skills but no one has offered to help them do anything about it in the past.

Training is the obvious answer, but I don’t think this alone can really improve core competencies for project managers.

So much of ‘competency’ is tied up in long-term behavioral shift, understanding workplace culture and lived experience. This is hard to get in a two-day training session or an online course.

Supporting team members with project management mentoring and coaches is a more practical way to effect long term change and to really grow the skills of your project management team with any depth.

And that goes for you as well: if you know you need to work on a particular skill or competency element, think about whether you would be well served in a classroom setting or whether there’s a better way to develop the skills you need such as finding a mentor (or being a mentor).

Read next: 7 steps to a project management capability assessment

Next steps for developing competencies

While these skills may seem like a lot to manage, they are not something that you develop – or have to develop – overnight. While skills gaps may exist, they can be addressed methodically.

It’s OK to have a longer-term plan to address competency gaps and develop your own skills over time. Getting them and improving them partly depends on lived experience, project successes, and the occasional failure.

Although we talk about the 11 top competencies for project managers above, one of the most important and increasingly visible is stakeholder engagement. Doing this well can mean the difference between a successful project and one that gets shut down, so starting there can be a good step in the right direction.

Talking of steps…

Below you will find your action steps for taking this further.

Action stepsChoose 2-3 skills to focus on at the moment. This helps avoid overwhelm and gives the opportunity for focused development before leveling up other skills.Ask colleagues to comment on your communication skills. What could you be doing better?Are you satisfied with the level of stakeholder engagement you are getting? If not, what are you going to do differently?Check out the competency models from your professional organization and see how you measure up.

Ready to take it further? If your work is tricky, learn about the 5 skills you need to manage complex projects.

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

10 Career-limiting mistakes to avoid

I write a lot about how to be better at your job, how to excel at interview, how to improve your skills and so on, and I interview a lot of experts who talk about those kinds of things.

Today I want to talk about the opposite: what you should avoid doing at work. I've seen project managers and other colleagues crash and burn. It's not nice to watch, and I hope it doesn't happen to you.

Fortunately, there are some easy things you can do to avoid common mistakes and stay on the right path.

Here are 10 career-limiting mistakes to avoid at work.

1. Not being truthful

Here's an example.

I was contacted by a sales person. This happens often in my job. I told him honestly that I didn't see any possibility of using his software at work, but that I was revising Social Media for Project Managers for a second edition (now published as Collaboration Tools for Project Managers) and that there would potentially be some scope in learning more about their product for that. He seemed keen and we set up a meeting.

Then I heard that he was contacting my colleagues. Not just one or two but lots of them. Lots of senior managers. Telling them that he had a meeting with me and that as his software would be used by my company in the future that he should meet them to explain about it.

There is a reason that project management has a code of ethics.

This was embarrassing for me. I had no problem with him telling people we were meeting, which was the truth, but the "you'll be using my application soon" part was a complete lie.

And I told him so. I also cancelled our meeting. I could write my book without his case study (and I did).

Career-limiting because: People find out if you lie. People find out if you exaggerate the truth. It will always bite you in the bum. So don't do it.

This is one of the reasons people don't get promoted. Don't be that person.

Read next: My review of Who Gets Promoted, Who Doesn't and Why by Donald Asher. It's a game-changing book!

2. Not doing good handovers

A good handover at the end of a piece of work is important for ongoing relationships and harmony in the office. Plus it's good practice.

Make sure that your project is handed over at closure to the people who will be using the product long term, along with all the associated documents, lessons learned, training material and so on.

Check they know how to contact you in case they need to (assuming you are still staying in the business). However, you should also make it clear that this is not your project anymore and they are responsible, otherwise they'll lean on you for a long time. Been there, done that!

If you need to handover work to your manager, then make sure you're doing that quickly and with all the relevant details. It's not difficult, it's just a bit time-consuming to gather all the information from your documentation and what's in your head.

Learn how to write a good handover email to a client, because it's different to writing notes or handing over in person to a colleague.

Career-limiting because: No one wants to work with the project manager who emails the operational team a closure document and is never seen again.

Read next: The Ultimate Guide to Project Closure

3. Not talking about problems

Surprises are bad. They are worse than not talking about problems because no one, especially not senior managers, like surprises. If you don't talk about problems then you risk hitting your manager with bad news. Project sponsors don't like bad news either.

Don't run a watermelon project.

A watermelon project is one that is green on the outside but red when you cut it open to examine it more closely. Talk honestly about what is going wrong.

Report your project as Red or Amber when your project isn't Green, because that's the honest status it is. Let people know what you are doing about it, and what your path to return to Green is and how long it will take to get there.

Career-limiting because: People will feel as if you don't have a handle on what's going on, or that you are not truthful. Or both.

4. Not taking decisions

Good initiatives die through stagnation. Often we need decisions to be made and no one else will step up and do it. When no one around you will make the decision and you think it is safe to do so, make the decision yourself.

Be empowered until someone tells you that you are not. You probably have more authority than you think, and you can certainly take more authority than you have.

You're managing a piece of work, so step up and do it otherwise you are not showing demonstrable leadership. You are not being accountable. The buck stops with you. End of.

[Find out why there is no such thing as a bad decision.]

Career-limiting because: Managers want to work with project teams who get work done. Decisions make that happen, and show that you are acting in a leadership role.

Get a free decision log template to help you record your work.

5. Not treating your colleagues as customers

Colleagues are not an annoyance. They want a report in a different format? They want a meeting on a Friday afternoon when you'd rather be packing up to start the weekend early? It's inconvenient, but they are your customer. Treat them accordingly.

By all means negotiate the time of that meeting and try to get the best outcome for yourself as well.

Career-limiting because: Other people pay your wages. Make the link.

6. Not saying no

You can treat someone like a customer and still manage to say no to them from time to time. Don't feel that you have to meet every stupid whim (project stakeholders and your colleagues are not above doing idiotic things sometimes).

You'll be faced with scope changes that they don't want to pay for, unreasonable requests for extra work or impossibly-speedy work and more. Say no. Be polite but don't be a doormat.

Career-limiting because: You'll be seen as a walkover and someone who is not truly in control of the work. And because if you are in a consultancy or service business and customers keep asking for work that you agree to without being paid for it, you'll go out of business.

7. Not doing lessons learned

Most post-implementation reviews end up with a list of lessons captured. Lessons captured are not the same as lessons learned. I concede that they are better than nothing.

Not doing the exercise to find out what lessons the team learned when a piece of work is done means you are unable to learn from your mistakes. You will not revise and standardize your processes. You'll never get any better at your job, and your company will never improve its organizational knowledge.

Grab a free agenda template for lessons learned sessions and book your meeting now.

Career-limiting because: You'll never improve your performance, and you'll never be able to demonstrate that you can improve your performance.

8. Not working with a sponsor

This one isn't your fault. Let's say you start working on a project and then the sponsor leaves. They are not replaced. Or the project falls way down the list of priorities and although you have a sponsor named in your Project Charter or in your other project documents, they don't actually contribute anything.

Not working in partnership with a sponsor is definitely career-limiting.

Career-limiting because: You'll have no one to champion your successes and support you. You'll have no one who can put you forward for new opportunities based on your performance at work.

9. Not staying up to date with training

What I do now as a project manager isn't the same as what I did ten years ago. It just isn't -- my personal skills have developed as has my technical ability to do my job.

Partly that's down to the fact I'm older and have more experience, but partly it's to do with taking an active interest in getting better. I've taken training courses, read books and generally looked out for my own professional development.

You should too.

Here are some of my favorite training options right now:

If you're hoping to do the PMP exam then try Brain Sensei. It's a video training course based on the concept that work is like dealing with feuding factions in ancient Japan, and very well put together.It's impossible not to like the training material put out by Cornelius Fichtner; I've listened to his online learning materials for years. The PDU Podcast is aimed at people who are collecting professional development units for their PMI credentials but it's also full of useful material for project managers and their teams looking to keep their skills up-to-date. Get a monthly subscription here (if you don't like it you can cancel it at any time).

Career-limiting because: You'll be unable to prove you are continually learning, which is often a criteria for showing your managers that you are serious about your career. You'll limit your chances of hitting any continuous professional development requirements for your professional body.

[lasso ref="pdu-podcast" id="22301" link_id="267843"] 10. Not listening to your experts

Every team has experts. They contribute to your plans. They do most of the work. As a manager, your role is to make it easy for them to do their jobs.

The problems come when you used to do their job, and you still want to. Managers meddle. They override decisions made by the people actually doing the work. They make up their own estimates based on how long they think things will take.

Mostly managers get it wrong because life has moved on since they were in the 'hands on' job. They aren't always up-to-date with the latest processes and practices. Don't make the mistake of thinking you know better than they do.

Career-limiting because: They know better than you. Honestly!

Ignore them and you'll make mistakes that could cost you the success of your project. And you know that you're mainly judged by the success of your last project, don't you?

Bonus: Get my book, Engaging Stakeholders on Projects: How to Harness People Power, to explore how to communicate faster, work virtually with people across the globe, and get better business results.Your next steps

Avoiding these career-limiting mistakes can enhance your professional trajectory, and get you on the radar for the right reasons.

If you take nothing else from this article, remember that honesty and transparency are crucial, as deceptive practices inevitably backfire. Proper handovers, open communication about problems, and decisive action can show that you're reliable and have the right mindset for leadership.

Treating colleagues as customers fosters a collaborative work environment, while the ability to say no and set boundaries shows control and professionalism.

Continuous learning and leveraging the expertise of your team helps you remain relevant and competent in your field, surrounded by colleagues who boost your performance. Finally, a strong relationship with a sponsor can propel your career (and your project) forward, providing support and advocacy.

By steering clear of these pitfalls, you pave the way for success and growth in your career. Your actions today shape your opportunities tomorrow. Keep learning, stay truthful, and lead with confidence. You can do it!

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

Confident Meetings Management: A Masterclass

Whatever the size of the projects you manage, you have to have meetings. And being the person who confidently chairs a meeting that is useful, finishes on time and that has people smiling (even at the end) is a way to set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd.

How many meetings have you sat in, wondering why you are even there? Or have you watched as a chair struggled to assert leadership and direct the conversation?

I’ll share tips learned from my 10+ years of chairing meetings, from the time I burst into tears of frustration to the workshops where we’ve all left the room on a high.

Your calendar doesn’t have to be filled with meetings, but you will need some. Whether you meet virtually or face-to-face, this masterclass will equip you to go forward and run fantastic meetings, every time.

Want to get more confident at chairing meetings? Join my new workshop.

Dates: 24 July 2024

Time: 7.30pm UK time (2.30pm EDT)

Cost: US$20

The challenge with managing meetings is that every project, every company and every meeting is slightly different depending on who is in the room and what you’re talking about.

But there are some good practices and habits that mean you can go into any meeting confident to facilitate the discussion and get to a good resolution.

And as this is a topic that comes up time and time again in my mentoring calls, I’ve put together a one-off training session about it.

In this masterclass you’ll learn:

Common types of meetings and which ones you can cancel todayHow to cope when you haven’t got time for meetings but still need to get people togetherHow to run an efficient meeting without draining all your energyHow to overcome 3 common fears about being in the Chair.

Plus we have time for a Q&A session so bring along your questions and let’s see if we can get your meetings working better and taking up less time!

Bonus resources

You'll also get:

Crib sheet on conversation prompts for meetingsIcebreaker dice for engaging beginningsPre- and post-meeting checklistsAgenda template and sampleTwo versions of meeting minutes templatesHow to have better meetings ebookSwipe copy for sending agendas, minutes and inviting people to meetings

Why learn with me?

I'm the author of Engaging Stakeholders on Projects: How to Harness People Power, and I've been leading business and tech projects for over 20 years. I'm an APM Fellow and a mentor, and I still work as a practitioner alongside my writing and training.

Buy nowWhat past students sayFAQ

Here are some FAQ to help you decide if it's the right training for you.

What’s the time commitment?

Overall, the time commitment is about an hour, although as it’s a live session I’ll stay on as long as necessary until all the questions are done.

When is the live training held?

24 July 2024 at 7.30pm UK time / 2:30pm EDT.

What’s the background of participants?

I expect most of the people who will be on the course with you will be early or mid-career professionals working in project delivery/project management roles.

Normally at my courses we get a good mix of people at various stages in their careers and from different industries.

What about if I work in an Agile team?

We will not be talking specifically about facilitating agile ceremonies, but if you have other  types of progress meeting, project boards, steering groups, governance meetings, problem-solving discussions and so on, then you’ll be able to apply the principles to those.

Can I claim PDUs?

Yes. I will give you an attendance certificate that you can use as evidence for your portfolio. However, I am not a registered PMI authorized trainer.

Can I claim the cost through my company?

Yes. Get in touch and I can send you an invoice.

What’s the cancellation/refund policy?

If you choose not to attend, you can get a refund up until we start the live sessions. I will not be able to refund you after 24 July.

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

How do you use CAPM to become a PMP?

So you’re already a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®? Congratulations!

Now you might be thinking of moving on in your career to earn the Project Management Professional (PMP)® designation.

The good news is that your CAPM studies and exam experience will help you get there faster. If you’re ready to take the next step, let me explain how to use your CAPM credential to fast-track your way to passing the PMP exam.

But before we get started, let me address a common question: is it possible to convert your CAPM to a PMP somehow?

Is it possible to convert CAPM to PMP?

No, you can’t convert your CAPM certificate or ‘upgrade’ it to become a PMP. You have to take the PMP assessment.

There’s no shortcut that lets you save time and only do a shorter version of the exam, for example. There are routes to ‘upgrade’ other certificates – for example, PRINCE2 Practitioner holders can take an accelerated route to earn the APM PMQ certification – but currently, there is nothing like that for PMP.

But don’t worry, there are still advantages to being a CAPM holder.

Want to get your CAPM? Check out the CAPM Exam Prep course that I recommend.

Use your CAPM training hours towards PMP

PMP applicants have to evidence 35 hours of project management education, but you don’t. Even if you only did 23 hours of project management training to get your CAPM, you bypass the education requirement.

PMI already knows that you have the basics down.

You might still want to take a PMP prep course, but you don’t have to, and that means you can more process your application more quickly.

[lasso ref="pm-prepcast" id="19415" link_id="298936"]Use your study schedule again

Did you make a study schedule? You can use the basics of that as a template to help you refresh and revise the key topics that will be tested in the PMP exam.

Update the template or calendar with your new revision plans.

Read next: Make time to study for your PMP Exam.

Use your study notes

It might be a couple of years since you last read the PMBOK Guide, so pull out your study notes and use them to remind yourself of the basics.

Remember, the PMP exam does test more deeply and more widely, and the domains are different, so it’s certainly not the case that you can use only your own study notes. But you would definitely have some that will fast-track your learning this time round.

You’ll need to work on situational knowledge and other contextual elements to round out your project management learning to make it through the PMP exam, but you won’t have to learn the basics again.

Use your work experience

You probably chose to take the CAPM exam because it helped you in your current job or helped you get a project management job. Now you’ve got some work experience.

Even if you don’t have a project management job title, you may still have enough experience leading projects in your day job to qualify for the 36 months of non-overlapping professional project management experience (which is further reduced if your degree was accredited by PMI’s global accreditation center).

Work experience is the thing that holds back a lot of CAPM holders from reaching PMP. You need to be able to demonstrate that you have done the job. Hopefully, your CAPM certificate has helped you get a job to earn the experience required.

Use your exam experience

You’re an exam pro now! You’ve already successfully made it through the shorter, slightly less stressful CAPM exam experience. That should give you the confidence to be able to face the PMP marathon exam.

Remember: stay positive. You’ve already done a PMI exam. You know what to expect from the exam situation, the proctoring, the technology. You’ve got insider knowledge that students who go straight to the PMP have not, so you can breathe a little easier!

If you want an extra dose of confidence, an exam simulator is a great way to prepare for the exam.

Keep your CAPM certificate active!

The recommendations above only apply if you are an active certification holder, in other words, your certificate is renewed and up-to-date. If you took the CAPM exam 15 years ago and haven’t kept up your skills, and your certificate is no longer current (as PMI introduced renewal requirements for it), then you’ll have to act as if you don’t have it.

That’s why I think it’s important to keep your CAPM certificate active. Go through renewal. Earn your PDUs. Then when you are ready to move on to PMP, it will be there to support you.

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

Office Timeline Pro+ Review

Office Timeline is a powerful PowerPoint plugin for creating professional timelines and roadmaps.

The Pro+ edition is aimed specifically at project managers needing to create timeline slides for executive briefings and project reviews.

In this review of Office Timeline Pro+, I’ll share the pros and cons that I found from using this tool (and one of those can be easily mitigated by upgrading to the Expert edition).

Summary

Product: Office Timeline

Pricing:

Pro: $149 per yearPro+: $199 per yearExpert: $249 per year

There is also a limited version that is available free.

Hosting model: The ‘main’ version is a Windows plugin, but there is a cloud version which lets you run the tool in the browser (a solution for Office Timeline for Mac users).

Languages: The interface is in English but you can change the language on the timeline to show months/weekday names etc in any standard Office language.

Website: https://www.officetimeline.com

Summary review of Office Timeline: Office Timeline is a simple way of creating timelines for your project from inside PowerPoint or your browser. It’s your answer to visually communicating key dates and project tasks in a format that feels familiar. A must-have app for managers wanting a fast way to make attractive timelines. What is Office Timeline?

Office Timeline is a Microsoft Office timeline add in for PowerPoint that helps you make slides people actually want to read. It’s a way of creating professional visual timelines in a fraction of the time it would take you to manually set those up in PowerPoint.

And, you can ditch your reliance on the ugly Smart Art tools!

I have had such good stakeholder feedback from using Office Timeline layouts on my slides.

The PowerPoint plugin has lots of features, such as marking key dates, swimlanes for different workstreams, and milestones. You can style the timeline to match your organization’s brand colors, and include all the elements of a timeline that are essential.

What’s in the Pro+ Edition?

The Pro+ edition has features that make it even more relevant to project teams.

You can:

Add sub-swimlanesAdd multiple timeline scalesUse new sub-swimlane templates.

Basically, if your project schedule is complicated with the need to display different workstreams or different time periods, then Pro+ has the flexibility you need.

How to get started with Office Timeline

Once you’ve bought your licence, download the plugin and run the file to install it.

When PowerPoint next opens, you’ll see the following screen. Copy/paste the Office Timeline product key you were sent in your activation email.

The wizard will walk you through a few things to know so you can get started quickly. There are also demo slides you’ll see so you can get used to how to create the timeline before you start messing with your Project Board deck.

Pro+ Features

So what’s the benefit of Pro+?

Here’s a breakdown of the main features that you get with the different editions.

FeatureBasicProPro+Create swimlanesNoYesYesAdd milestones in swimlanesNoYesYesCreate sub-swimlanesNoNoYesShow multiple timescales on the same timelineNoNoYes

There are some other features as well, but the ability to craft your timeline exactly how you want it is the main benefit for professional project managers.

Note: Office Timeline Free edition has limitations in the amount of data you can add, but it’s still enough to get you started and so you can check out the tool to see if it is a good fit for what you need.

The Office Timeline cost of each of these options is very reasonable: ask your PMO to fund a licence or two for the key users in the team. You will need one licence per person.

What is a multi-level swimlane?

A swimlane is simply a graphical way of grouping tasks on a chart. You color-code the background and then pop in the tasks.

The timeline below shows a schedule using single swimlanes. As you can see, each block has one set of tasks within it.

The timeline below uses sub-swimlanes. For a timeline maker to be truly useful in a project environment, this feature is a must-have.

It looks far more complicated but it’s still easy to understand. There are three main sections:

Key datesEngineeringInfrastructure.

Each of those is broken down into different strands, so there is a workstream for Engineering App Services and another one for Engineering Design. You can see that within a particular workstream, this feature would be really important, and makes for a cleaner presentation of the schedule.

This timeline also uses multiple timebands. At the top you can see that there are three grey timebands, one for year, one for quarter and one for month. That helps all kinds of stakeholders to orientate themselves as to where they are and what’s happening when.

Milestones get more context than before.

Maybe you want Office Timeline Expert edition?

Expert edition is really aimed at people who need to customize their timelines regularly. It has the advantage of custom themes, custom templates and standardizing visuals across shared themes, so it's great for PMOs.

If you use Jira, this is the version you'll want, as the Jira import allows you to align multiple Jira projects on a slide.

If, like me, you spend a lot of time creating decks for communication purposes, then you'll save plenty of formatting time by upgrading to Expert.

More features coming

When I spoke to the Office Timeline team, I was impressed by their commitment to constantly releasing new features. The most impressive thing is that they are actually listening to the project management community and building the functionality we need.

For example, that strap line: “Give stakeholders program slides they will actually read.”

I was told that came from feedback from a ‘real’ project manager. The team talk about the new stuff in the pipeline and the features they have built casually referencing their market research and feedback from customers. They are really listening, and I think that’s important for the future of the tool.

Edited to add: since this review was originally published, they have now added dependencies and critical path into the Pro+ version, as well as added Jira import into both the Pro and Pro+ versions.

Restyling the ribbon

Another thing that the team behind Office Timeline has done is to restyle the ribbon in PowerPoint to make things simpler. For example, in the timeline view you can add tasks, milestones and swimlanes direct from that view.

You can still use the data view and/or import data, but now you don’t have to.

As you move items on the timeline graphically, it reflects in the data view as well. Drag and drop makes editing your timeline very easy. It’s a drag and drop visual editor and it’s really good.

Add tasks, milestones and swimlanes direct from the timeline view

Once you’ve added the tasks, milestones and swimlanes required, click Create and it creates a slide with the timeline on it. Then the fun begins!

Styling your timeline

You can edit the timescale settings and now there are 3 options for scales: top tier, middle tier and bottom tier (although you don’t have to use all three). This means you can set separate timescales.

For example, if you have a project that is going to run for years, you can have a big long annual scale at the top. Then if you need to identify an exact point in time e.g. a milestone for a day that helps people place moments in time on the project, you can do that with another timeband. Otherwise it might look like you have tasks that go on for years and it’s hard for people to orientate activities within a year.

Tip: Rotate the titles of swimlanes to make them smaller columns! It’s so easy to make the schedule look good, which is important to help get the message across.

You can apply different templates to make the look and feel fit what you want. If none of the pre-created styles work for your brand, create your own timeline template with your own shapes for milestones etc and then save as a template to use in the future.

Importing from MS Project 

Let’s say you already have a schedule in MS Project. You don’t really want to have to create another timeline by hand, copying and pasting dates.

Well, you don’t have to!

The Import wizard is really simple to use. Browse to your file. The wizard will help you select the data for the slide.

Tip

Add a new column to your Microsoft Project plan that includes the swimlane/sub-swimlane title so Office Timeline knows where to map the task to. You don’t have to do this, but it will make styling your timeline a lot easier.

If you don’t have correctly-named columns in MS Project, you’ll be prompted to help the Office Timeline wizard map the right columns.

As this is for a project presentation or report, you won’t want to bring in all 100+ lines of your giant schedule. Select what tasks you want to bring over. To make my life easier, I typically already create an exec summary at the top of my MS Project plan. I’d only select those tasks.

https://youtu.be/9N2iF8qshfw?si=gNe49...

I like the fact that the team recognize that this is not a tool that would necessarily replace Microsoft Project or the scheduling tool of your choice. Yes, you can build out a simple project schedule in it, but it’s really designed for pretty presentation of your data and reporting: executive summaries.

Next month, hit the Sync button and then the PowerPoint timeline will review the file and look for updates to the file.

Tip

Don’t change the location or file name of your original import data source (e.g. .mpp or .xlsx) so Office Timeline can go back and check for changes.

Getting started

Don’t worry if you’ve never used it before or can’t quite see how your huge schedule would possibly condense down into a single slide.

Sometimes it helps to start from someone else’s plan to give you the ideas of what is possible. Open a template project with dummy data and then put in your own. There are plenty of sources of inspiration built into the tool and also in the Resources section on the website.

It’s very intuitive once you get going, and the online help is good enough to get you unstuck.

Tip: Always make sure you have the latest version. Download the latest build on the site, and make a diary note to check back every six months to grab any improvements from the Updates page on the website.

ProsOffice Timeline is integrated within PowerPoint and has the feel of PowerPoint. You don’t have the impression you are working with a different toolYou can have milestones at the top or bottom on the barGreat for big picture communications and helping stakeholders understand the complexity of the workGreat for expectation settingEvery Project Board deck needs a timeline like this!ConsUpdating the colors can be a bit time consuming. If you have favorite or brand colors, you should first save them as Theme colors in PowerPoint so they show up in your Office Timeline color options. Also, you can use the “Apply to all” button to apply color changes to several elements at once. If this is a blocker for you, get the Expert edition and use the custom themes so it's set up perfectly every time. It takes a bit of formatting to get the set up exactly as you want it, the first time. There are a lot of options and styling choices to consider and use – and you will want to test them all out instead of relying on the templates.Summary

Office Timeline Pro+ (or Expert) doesn’t replace your complex project data software, but does mean that stakeholders don’t have to look at it!

Instead, they can look at a simplified, easy to understand Gantt chart on a slide.

Let’s face it: while many PPM tools offer dashboards and executive reports, the stakeholders you work with might still prefer information on a slide. Office Timeline Pro+ gives you a huge range of professional-looking options to make that happen.

Make your communications shine and help stakeholders understand what’s happening with a clear project timeline!

[lasso ref="office-timeline-link" id="33505" link_id="298481"]FAQIs Office Timeline Pro+ a Microsoft product?No. Office Timeline is not owned by Microsoft but is a fully compatible plugin for Microsoft PowerPoint.How do I get to Office Timeline Pro/Pro+/Expert?Once you have installed the plugin, the menu options for the timeline creator will be in the PowerPoint ribbon at the top of your screen. You access Office Timeline direct from the PowerPoint menus.

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

The secret weapon to precise project planning: Parametric estimating (with examples!)

What is parametric estimation?

Parametric estimating is a form of project estimation that works for time, resource and cost estimates.

It uses parameters (characteristics) to create estimates based on what you already know, so in that respect it’s useful for a project manager because it’s reliable. You get accurate data because they are data-based and thought-through – it’s a quantitative approach.

Oh, and it’s one of several project estimation techniques covered by the Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam too, so if you are studying, you’ll need to understand the concepts and how to apply it so you can be confident on your test.

Definition

Estimating approach that uses a statistical relationship between historical data and other variables to calculate an estimate.

Dictionary of Project Management Terms, 3rd Edition, J. LeRoy Ward

When to use it

Parametric models are used in three situations:

When you have data to use for modelling (get that from historical information from similar projects)The model is scalable (in other words, the parameters remain the same regardless of how many units of work are required)It’s easy to work out the parameters required: the work is easily quantifiable into recognizable units e.g. hours, dollars, meters etc.

It's good for repetitive tasks, but if those conditions aren’t met, you are going to struggle to use this technique.

For that reason, it’s not a method I tend to use very often, especially on complex projects. Mostly, I’m estimating knowledge work or tasks where analogous estimating (where you look at past projects and see how long similar tasks took) is a more reliable technique.

However, if your new project has tasks which have a statistical relationship: number of square meters ploughed in 30 minutes, square footage prepared in construction, number of lines of code written in an hour by an experienced developer, then use it to get a better estimate than simply ‘expert judgment’ which for most people means guessing.

Parametric estimating in the PMBOK® Guide

This statistical method gets a mention in the PMBOK® Guide as a way to estimate activity durations, costs and resource effort.

The PMBOK® Guide talks about it as a technique to use either for a total project, or for working out the estimates related to parts of a project from the work breakdown structure. You can combine it with other techniques to calculate the overall project cost or duration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqeby... estimating formula

In simple terms, multiple the quantity of the work to be performed by the number of labor hours per unit of work (or cost, or whatever your parameter values are). Then you get an accurate estimate.

It’s clearer to see how this works in practice with a couple of examples, so that's what we'll see below.

How to do it

First, establish the parameters. Are you looking for time estimates or cost estimates? Make an informed decision for this project stage e.g. units of work required.

Next, look at previous projects: it’s always helpful to see what happened in the past and what you can learn from the past.

Work out how many units of work are required.

Multiply units of work required by cost/time/effort for each unit. Voila! There you have it: resource requirements as validated by the estimation process.

Using any new project management technique is a learning curve when you get started, so don’t worry if it seems tricky at first – it’s actually very easy once you get used to it.

Be sure to capture what you did and keep that information for your next project: even if there are unique complexities in this particular task, it will be helpful to look back on your past experience.

Parametric estimating examples

When you’ve got the data to use at task level, the parametric method gives you a high accuracy of estimates because they are grounded in data you already know to be true.

Here are some examples to show you how it works.

Example 1

Here’s an example:

If it takes one person one hour plant 20 potatoes, it will take two people two hours to plant 80 potatoes.

Even if this turns out to only be a rough estimate based on their skill level (a novice potato planter will take longer per potato than an expert planter, for example), it still gives you a very good starting point.

Note: some things can’t be estimated this way. You know the old saying: it takes one woman 9 months to have a baby. You can’t add another woman and get the baby in 4.5 months.

Example 2

Here’s another example for working out time requirements:

A network engineer is capable of laying 25 meters of fiber optic cable per hour, on average. The project requires her to lay 2,000 meters of cable.

2,000 / 25 = 80 hours of work

That doesn’t include any travel time to the site, or breaks. As the project manager, I would look to see if we could assign a couple of network engineers to get the cable in faster.

Your models can build in all kinds of variables for improved accuracy, but at the most basic levels, those examples show how to work out project estimates.

Example 3

Here’s another example, this time for a cost estimation:

It costs £500 for a day of consultancy. Your project is being outsourced to the consultancy and they have given you a Gantt chart saying the work will take 10 days, spread over 7 weeks.

The formula for cost estimates would be 500 x 10 so the total cost of the project is £5,000.

Then you'd track the actual cost and adjust as you go based on performance and what you learn. Rework your estimate at completion during the project so your financial tracking stays accurate.

Calculating total project cost

It’s unlikely that you can estimate your whole project with parametric calculations. It’s appropriate to use for certain tasks where you have the data and this information can then be aggregated.

However, you’ve probably got tasks in your project where this way of estimating simply isn’t accurate or advised.

The size of the current project most likely determines how many and what type of techniques you are going to use to get variable data and precise estimates. Be prepared to mix and match.

Read next: Project Resource Management: The Ultimate Guide on How to Master It.Limitations of parametric estimating

As with all project management techniques, this is one to use under advisement. The basic formula of 'time it takes to do the work' x 'amount of work required' might seem straightforward but it might not translate to the real world.

For example:

Those potato planters might get exhausted and need a break after every 20 minutes of diggingOne of them might plant faster than the other due to having more experience or better toolsThe network engineer might be working in a building of historical interest and need to use different techniques for some of the cable-laying to preserve the look of the buildingThe projects might have variable cost: perhaps laying cable in the summer costs more than in the winter and you have to factor that in because the historical building is occupied and the disruption is greaterIf you have little information (for example, you don’t have the data points for how long it takes to plant a potato), you can’t use this technique until you have themYou need reliable data: if you’ve picked the consultancy rate of a blog post on the internet and not the actual proposal from your consultancy firm, you could be in for a shock when the bill comes.

The accuracy of parametric estimates is only going to be as good as the project parameters and statistical models created by the project team. Take care in getting the basics right and you will be rewarded with higher levels of accuracy.

However, in the absence of nothing better, parametric estimating gives you an overall, high level estimate and still allows you to add in contingency or other variables to get a more accurate result. It’s definitely one of the estimating techniques to keep in your toolkit for when your project needs it.

Read next: Project Estimating: The only guide you need

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

How to write a handover email to a client

Are you leaving a role, and thinking about how to manage transferring your client work to a colleague?

Here’s how to do a smooth handover process, and there’s an email template below you can use to tell clients that you are moving on.

Why are you writing the email?

First, let’s get clear on why you want to write the handover mail. Normally, when I’ve had to let clients (or vendors) know that I’m going to be out for a while it’s because either:

I am leaving the job and want to reassure them that there will be a smooth handover

Or

I’m letting them know that I’ll be out off the office for some time, and want to reassure them.

Either way, the purpose of writing a handover email to a customer is to let them know that there won’t be disruption in the service your company provides to them.

If you’re writing handover notes for a colleague, read my complete guide to doing a work handover instead. That one also has email templates!

Let them know before the email

Ideally, your handover message will not be news to the client.

A professional handover is never a surprise.

Call the customer first and let them know, or if you aren’t senior enough to do that, have your manager call them and break the news.

The contents of the handover email is more about reassurance, continuity and wrapping up any tasks you specifically had open for them.

Explain the handover process

An important part of your client handover is letting them know what’s happening. No one likes to be in the dark, and if you’re paying for a service, even more so.

Talk to your client about the process for completing your handover. Normally this will be making sure you do a good job of briefing a colleague who will be taking the lead when you move on. Ideally, there will be some time for you to work alongside them, training them before you go.

If you can, introduce them to the client via your normal account management meetings so they have both of you in the room (or on screen) for a couple of weeks.

Be available for questions

Make sure your handover starts early enough for you to be around to smooth things over.

Clients may have questions, or they may want to highlight some particular details that they want you to pass on. If you can, be around to answer all of those gracefully.

If you don’t know the answers, make sure to point them to someone who does.

Pro Tip

They might as well start building a relationship with the person who will be managing the work going forward, so if your replacement has already started, get them to reply to questions and copy you in.

What happens when you don’t have time for a proper handover?

Let’s assume your dream job has come up and you’re leaving tomorrow. Or some personal situation means you have to leave with hardly any notice.

You can still send a handover email. You might want to add more detail (not about your personal circumstances) and you’ll certainly want to do a detailed handover to the colleague, even if you have to do that in writing.

Write a handover email to your manager, and point out where the core information is that they will need to ensure continuity of service.

Template: What to put in your handover email

Here’s a sample handover email template that you can customize to send to your clients.

Hello

Following our conversation, I wanted to formally introduce you to [COLLEAGUE’S NAME] who will be picking up the XXX account/project from me. [NAME] is a fantastic project manager/account manager etc with X years’ experience leading similar initiatives. HIS/HER contact details are:

[INSERT DETAILS]

I’ll be completing a full internal handover so please be assured that HE/SHE will be able to pick up seamlessly when I leave on [DATE].

The next steps that we are working on together and that I’m handing over are:

NEXT STEP 1NEXT STEP 2.

Thank you so much for your engagement/support on this project to date. It has been a pleasure to work with you and I’m sure with [NAME] supporting the work going forward, it will be a huge success.

If you have any questions about the transition process, please reach out to [MANAGER’S NAME].

Close with your normal closure/signature.

Copy in your colleague and your manager/account manager as necessary.

If the project has come to a natural close, read more about how to handover a project on closure as you’ll probably want to include different details.

Should you provide your contact information?

I don’t think it’s professional to include your personal contact information. You might be accused of trying to poach clients if you provide details of where you are going next or your personal email address.

The relationship is between the organization and the client, not you personally. It’s not necessary or appropriate to encourage them to stay in contact at this point.

After the handover email is sent

Now you’re all ready to leave and your client has the contact details for your replacement.

I would now think about what you have learned working with this customer. Can you copy all your achievements, key tasks and responsibilities to your LinkedIn profile?

If you got on particularly well with the client and it wouldn’t be weird, why not connect with them on LinkedIn and ask them for a recommendation? It’s an easy way to build your network and it makes more sense to do it soon, rather than leaving it a year or so and wondering if they remember you.

Leaving a role and having to say goodbye to clients is a normal part of building your career, so don’t feel bad about sharing the news that you are moving on. Use the email outline here as a guide for how you are going to communicate with your clients, and take the next step forward with confidence.

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

7 Creativity hacks to try with your team

Creativity is the cornerstone of innovation. It turns your work from average to outstanding, fixes problems, anticipates risks, and delivers better products and services, supporting the creation of superior solutions for customers and businesses.

And it makes work more fun.

So how can you put more creativity into your work day? Here are 5 quick hacks to supercharge your team's creativity.

Let's face it, sometimes you just don't feel that creative.

And yet you need to continue to think creatively and tap into diverse ideas to get better results -- you know the drill.

Getting innovative solutions often means empowering your team to be more creative. And that starts with the team feeling appreciated and that their ideas will be taken seriously.

If employees think their ideas will be laughed at, you won't get any creativity from them. They have to have a place where they feel comfortable talking about slightly off-the-wall things where they know their suggestions will be accepted without fear of judgment.

So how exactly do you create that kind of safe space as part of your company culture? Here are 7 hacks to quickly boost creative thinking in teams.

1. Hack your brainstorming sessions

Brainstorming should be a creative activity, but it doesn't always turn out like that. The problems start if you don't go into a brainstorming session with the objective of being deliberately intentional about innovative thinking.

This approach ensures everyone feels comfortable and creative ideas can flow freely.

Don't simply launch into handing out the sticky notes. Instead, start with some team exercises to warm up people's brains and help them realize that they are in a safe space where it's OK to make suggestions.

For example, start with a game like word association. It's simple, takes no tools and starts the session off helping people feel that they aren't going to be judged for what they say.

Focus on building psychological safety so you're making a conducive environment for all the creative outputs!

To hack your brainstorming sessions:

Use warm-up exercises: Start with a quick game like word association to get everyone's brains in gear and create a judgment-free zone.
Quantity over quality: Emphasize generating as many ideas as possible, no matter how wild. Later, sift through them for the gems.

Begin the brainstorming session when you are ready. Define the problem clearly. Give people clear instructions.

And then make it clear that they are there to generate lots of ideas. Some of them will probably be terrible, but they could spark some genuinely good ones, so there's no judgement.

Later you can sift through the ideas and categorize them. You'll probably find some that might fly. Then the team can look at those in more detail and come up with suggestions for the way forward.

Remember the golden rule of brainstorming: don't judge ideas. Write everything up. Don't be critical. You want to encourage ideas to flow, and telling someone that their idea won't work simply shuts down the conversation.

You never know, a wacky idea might spark something in another colleague's mind, and you do get a result you can run with.

[lasso type="list" category="creativity-training" disclosure_text=" " title_type="H4" link_id="298842"]2. Mentorship magic: Unlock individual creativity

Sometimes it isn't appropriate to be creative as a team. Instead, you can work with individuals and help them unlock their own creativity.

Get to know your colleagues. It's much easier to inspire and lead once you have a better understanding of what they are passionate about and what they love about their job.

Talk to them as a friend, a mentor, a coach. As a manager, you're in a good place to support their goals, even if they don't directly report to you. Even in a matrix structure there is quite a lot of latitude to support and develop individuals.

Generally speaking, people who enjoy coming to work and feel supported by their team and management will be more creative.

To hack individual creativity:

Get to know your colleagues and support their individual creative goals. Talk to them as a friend, mentor, and coach.

3. Hack team dynamics with quality relationships

Scientists at MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory discovered that the best predictors of a team’s success are the energy and level of engagement between team members outside of formal meetings.

Another Gallup study found that quality relationships at work are a predictor of a healthy, productive workplace.

Both of those studies have conclusions which will likely improve the creativity of your team.

To hack your team dynamics:

Use small, frequent interactions like casual chats, coffee breaks, and Slack/Teams messages to build trust and energy among team members.

So how do you put that into practice? Think about how you can improve the workplace, create a work/life balance and support colleagues in their professional goals.

And build in lots of informal communication. Call people. Chat on your Slack channel. Stop by their desk. Have coffee. Say thanks for their excellent idea.

These small hacks can significantly boost the willingness of team members to tap into their creative powers.

[lasso ref="team-engagement" id="20700" link_id="268189"]

4. Diversity boost: Gather diverse voices

Your team might be the best at what they do, but teams sometimes end up with 'inside the box' thinking. That's when it's time to bring in some other voices.

Invite other colleagues to your team meetings. Share your problems at lunch-and-learn sessions. Encourage cross-functional working. Get the interns to mentor the big bosses.

The more diversity of thought you can bring to the workplace, the more likely it is you'll create a culture where inclusivity and creativity comes easily.

To hack out of the box thinking:

Bring in colleagues from other departments, hold lunch-and-learn sessions, and encourage cross-functional working.

5. Celebrate small wins

It's easier to be creative when you see that you are winning.

Look for and celebrate the small wins in the team. Circulate nice emails of praise from management or customers. Say thank you when someone comes up with a fresh idea.

Check out these ways to celebrate success, many of which don't need any formal budget.

Harvard Business School professor Teresa Amabile argues in her book The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work (co-authored with Steven Kramer) that a sense of progress at work makes for more creative team members.

As Amabile points out:

"On the days when people are feeling happiest, proudest, and most motivated, the single most prominent event in those days is making progress in meaningful work."

To hack winning:

Make everything a win! (OK, not everything.) Regularly recognize and celebrate small achievements to maintain a sense of progress and motivation.

6. Let people work autonomously

Creativity doesn't come with a map. When you try to constrain your team's behavior, you end up dictating how they are supposed to act. That's stifling for your culture of innovation.

Let them make the decisions and use their own creative steam to power themselves forward.

In his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Really Motivates Us, Daniel Pink talks about a study conducted at Cornell University. It shows that businesses that gave employees autonomy grew four times faster than businesses that used command and control management. They also experienced significantly lower turnover rates and higher levels of discretionary effort from their team members.

Pretty cool.

To encourage autonomy:

Let your team make decisions and take ownership of their projects. This freedom fuels creative thinking.

7. Reward creativity

Finally, think of ways to reward people who have worked creatively.

That doesn't always mean something large and showy: perhaps they thought outside the box and did something different and it worked. That's enough. That's still creativity.

To hack rewards:

Reward creativity on the spot, but also schedule it for larger moments. Celebrate their achievements with the team. Let everyone know that good ideas are worth sharing and that you notice.

However, a pat on the back for a creative idea isn't going to foster creativity in your team longer term. And team building activities aren't a reward.

The real reward (as well as you're internal company recognition scheme, certificates and fun awards for individuals) should be the natural outcome of what we talked about a the beginning of this article -- an environment where creativity is expected, supported and encouraged to flourish.

Squash the barriers to creativity

I hear that lack of time is often a reason why managers and team leaders struggle to boost team creativity, but it shouldn't be something that takes a lot of time.

If you do have the time, you can give employees time to work on creative projects. Especially if they have come up with the ideas in the first place.

Another barrier is the perceived need to have training sessions, or to have your, or additional space for team members to work in a room with bean bags or similar.

Listen to constructive feedback, let creativity be a collaborative process and focus on building a positive working environment so people can be themselves.

When the setting is right, trust is established and people are encouraged to contribute, creativity will flourish.

A different version of this article first appeared on this blog in 2014.

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management

How to make a SIPOC diagram in all the tools (with PowerPoint template)

Process mapping creates value as it helps people understand the business context of the work they are doing. One tool to do this is the SIPOC diagram, which I use and I learned about on my Black Belt training.

Get a free PowerPoint SIPOC diagram template. Join the Project Management Resource Library to get the template and lots of other free project management templates, checklists, and guides.

Whether you want to understand how customers move through your small business, or mapping the processes used on a major civil engineering project, SIPOC is a visual process mapping tool that can help you see the big picture, identify the individuals involved and then plan more effectively – especially if you intend to change a process.

But what’s it all about? Read on…

What is a SIPOC diagram?

A SIPOC (say: sigh-pok) diagram is a simple way of recording an end-to-end business process.

SIPOC diagrams have 5 steps and SIPOC stands for:

SuppliersInputsProcessOutputsCustomers

It’s a visual process mapping technique, and it is used to create clarity before digging into the deeper levels of the business process.

In other words, it’s a good way to get everyone on the same page before you start mapping the detail. You end up with a SIPOC diagram that shows the process at high level.

SIPOC example

Here’s a totally generic SIPOC example that gives you an idea of what the end result should look like.

This is the editable PowerPoint template available in the free resource library. Click over and join us there!

As you can see, it’s a visual tool that gives you the process (and more) on a page. Perfect for drawing out on a flip chart! Write the name of the process at the top.

If you don’t want to spend the time creating a fancy diagram, table format works just fine. Or you can get my SIPOC template which is an editable PowerPoint file to give you a headstart.

Let’s look at the different areas of the SIPOC template in more detail and how you can put one together for your own project.

1. Suppliers

Every process starts with the suppliers of the inputs: the people who provide the stuff that the process needs to get going.

Typical suppliers include your own staff (all the different departments involved) and customers. You may also have third-party suppliers providing other information.

For example, let’s use an example of the process to register an account on your company website. A supplier might be the web hosting company.

In project management terms, these are the people identified as your project stakeholders.

Action: Make a list of the people who supply information, services or other types of input to the process.

(For all these actions, work with your team. You might want to create a straw man sample to throw up on the screen during a meeting, but the final version needs to be done collaboratively.)

2. Inputs

Inputs are what are required by the process. These are transformed into what the customer needs during the process.

Typical inputs could be pieces of information, raw materials, or the technical environment. In the example of creating an account on a website, inputs would include credit card details, customer name, address, and so on.

Tip: Don’t forget the external inputs: things you need from other teams or other projects.

Action: Make a list of all the key inputs to this process.

3. Processes

At this step you define the high level process. By now you’ve got clear on what and who are helping this process happen. Now you have to plot out the five to seven major process steps.

These should be at a really high level. You’re not trying to map out the exact step-by-step flow here. It’s only to give a flavour of what is happening at the most basic level.

This would be your Level 1 process. It gives you the building blocks to create a more detailed process map or flow diagram later, which will have the level of detail required to show someone exactly what happens step-by-step.

The SIPOC process is more to ensure everyone is clear about the big picture and that you can easily identify what’s happening.

In our website registration process, the steps would be something like:

Customer arrives at websiteCustomer navigates to account pageCustomer enters detailsAccount is createdEmail confirmation is issued to customer

Action: Record the high level steps of the process. This isn’t a detailed overview, so keep your mini-process map to around 5 items.

I’ll say it again: you don’t need much detail at this point! Keep it big picture but do include the entire process.

4. Outputs

This is exactly as you’d expect – what comes out of the process. Once your inputs have been transformed by the process, this is what you get at the end: the outputs of the process. Drop these into the appropriate column.

In our SIPOC example for the website build, if you register on a website, what the process produces is a new customer account, and maybe you’d want to identify that as a new marketing lead as well.

One of the process outputs for the customer would be the email notification, and perhaps a welcome email offering a discount off your products, for example.

Action: Complete your SIPOC template by making a list of the outputs of this process.

5. Customers

These are the key customers of the process. This could look like a similar list to the suppliers list that you put together at the beginning, or it might look significantly different.

Common customers on projects include staff in different departments, the end user (the customer on the street) and third party vendors who then take the output and do something else with it.

The customers of the website registration process would be your end user (the customer who has registered on the website) and the sales and marketing team who can take that customer data and use it for marketing purposes. There may be other people in the business who would use the information created in the process who would count as internal stakeholders.

Often, the people we think of as the customer are not the 'true' customer. Who is after our internal colleagues? How do we meet their customer expectations? Challenge the content for this section to make sure you are identifying all the relevant customers.

I like this step the best because it forces our team to think of the voice of the customer and to make sure that their experience gets the priority it deserves.

Action: Make a list of customers and add it to the SIPOC template.

Tip: You can extend the diagram by also adding a note of customer requirements e.g. top success criteria as judged by the customer.Why use SIPOC?

You want to know why you should be using this powerful tool, beyond the fact that it gives you a visual representation of a process as a high-level overview? OK! Here are some (more) reasons why you should consider using SIPOC on your project.

The SIPOC map is a good tool for creating understanding and understanding the scope and key elements of the processThe SIPOC gives you a common language for talking about what the process does now and how you want it to changeIt forces you to think about the requirements of the customers, not just the requirements of the people who shout the loudestIt’s a way to provide some focus and structure to a brainstorming session, especially if you don’t have much facilitation experience and need a hand working out how to actually get this project started.

You might ask why it’s important to do process mapping for a process you understand well, if you are about to change it. It is worth doing: because you can only appreciate the impact of a process change if you know what the process is in the first place.

That’s why plenty of projects start off with creating a high level process map, or at least reviewing the last time process mapping was done and ensuring that whatever business process flow was produced back then is still accurate for today’s project.

Then you can refer back to the diagram and create the relevant process documentation to support it.

SIPOC and Six Sigma

I was asked the other day if SIPOC is Lean or Six Sigma. It's from the Six Sigma tool set.

I learned SIPOC on my Six Sigma training

It’s part of the Define phase in the DMAIC methodology and has become a much-used tool in industries like lean manufacturing. It’s perfect for continuous process improvement initiatives and any type of process review where you are looking for potential gaps in the way things are done.

Having said that, you don’t need to be a Six Sigma Black Belt to make use of the tool on any continuous improvement project.

How to create a SIPOC diagram...

A SIPOC diagram is supposed to be a creative, collaborative endeavor. Get all the team members involved, talking openly and bouncing around ideas. It should be a team effort to produce the chart, and if you get the relevant stakeholders to help, it will be packed with relevant information that will shape the next stage of the project.

The easiest way to create your process map is to work with your colleagues in a workshop-style setting. Grab your mindmapping software, start from a blank page (or a template) and start getting your ideas down. You can always edit them later.

...in PowerPoint

That's easy! Just download my free template and customize it. Add in your brand colors and make it suit your needs.

PowerPoint is very flexible, and as a SIPOC diagram is a visual way of presenting information, slides work very well. You might have to resize information to get everything on the page.

Remember you can change your slide size if you want to make the canvas bigger (and don't mind scrolling).

...in Excel/Google Sheets

Excel is not the easiest of tools to use for predominantly text-based content, but you can create 5 columns, one for each of the elements.

Give each column a heading, add shading to differentiate it from the other columns and then add in your text. For the process column, simply list out the steps within the column itself.

You can add an extra box at the bottom for notes if you need to.

...in Visio

If you're lucky enough to have a charting tool, you might find there is a template -- check any libraries called 'workflow diagrams' or use the search feature.

I use Boardmix, which is a bit like Visio in some respects, but more like Miro or other whiteboarding tools. It has a template, so you might find your charting tool does too.

If you don't have a template pre-built for you, you'll have to create the shapes and connectors on screen to get the look you want. I imagine that could be quite time-consuming, but no more so than doing the same work in PowerPoint.

...in Word

You can whip up a Word version easily.

Start with your page orientation as landscape. Add a title (as it's hard to add text on afterwards if your table is the first thing on the page). Then add a 5-column table and enter your text.

You can use the drawing tools to add call-outs for your process steps if you don't want to add them directly as text within the table, and that might make it look a bit more 'visual' too.

Limitations of SIPOC

The SIPOC model is only really good at drawing out the high level process. It’s not going to give you the detailed steps required to, say, put together a training manual or write a user guide.

And let's not get on to complex processes. You really have to dumb it down or breakdown the process into sub-processes to get anything of value, and by the time you've done that, is the output really valuable at all?

This type of business process analysis is quite simplistic but it does act as a good starting point with key steps that help you move forward.

Could you see a value for this in your business?

Your next stepsHop over the Resource Library to grab your templateThink about what project you could use this on (although if you're already reading this article and you've got this far, you probably have one in mind)Make a draft version with what you knowGather the team to discuss and agree on the contents to gain consensus

This article first appeared at Rebel's Guide to Project Management