Hornford Associates project services incorporates strategic planning, project initiation and project delivery. Our approach is based upon the SMART Project Management approach. Our experience with Operations ensures we include a critical, and often overlooked cost-driver: effective hand-off between project resources and operational support staff. Critical to the transition is ensuring appropriate support skills and organizational structure are in-place. Business value creation enabled by the solution being implemented can only be realized with an effective support organization. SMART Project Management tells us that there are three priorities - performance, time and cost. Managing the trade-offs between performance, time and cost and managing risk is where a Project Manager earns her keep. We have adapted the SMART triangle to include a vertical axis - risk. Changes to performance, time and cost will either impact the other two variables or will impact the project risk. Understanding trade-offs, and being able to articulate them are the two most important skills a Project Manager brings. Trade-offs are part of every project. Why? Two questions that have been asked at every project presentation since the beginning of recorded history.
- How can we do it cheaper?
- How can we complete the project faster?
The Project Manager needs to be able to understand how pushing or pulling on performance, time and cost impact each other and risk. Far too often the trade-off is an unconscious increase in risk. Because risk is a variable people often do not see it in play. The Project Manager constrains cost while trying to hold performance and time. This is a recipe for increased project risk, however risk is not guaranteed. Risk is there lurking in the shadow. Unarticulated risk means the project appears to come unglued, even though it was never glued together in the first place. Hornford Associates adaption of the SMART Project Management method ensures that we include performance, time, cost and risk in all project updates. We are prepared for the trade-offs and help our sponsors see the alternative project results when we are asked to go 'cheaper' and 'faster'.
There are Pros and Cons of engaging external Project Management. A few of the Pros are also Cons. We structure our engagements to help ensure our clients achieve the significant benefits of external Project Management:
- Fresh eyes
- Best Practices
- Productivity
- Focus
- Knowledge Transfer
A cornerstone of our approach is 'truth to power'. Effective decisions can only be made with all the news. The news isn't always positive, in fact the news has lead to the termination of a project. In addition, we have tuned our delivery model to a clear focus on business value. We know that technology as an investment that needs an acceptable return. Lastly we know that you need to develop your internal capability. Meaningful knowledge transfer, and experience acquisition, must be included in all engagements (unless you ask us not to, in which case the initial cost, time and performance all go down). Your on-going costs will increase when your staff do not maximize their capability.
It does not matter how well we deliver the project if it is the wrong one. It will still be wrong when it has been perfectly executed and is on time and within budget
Francis Hartman
If your approach is to accept the risk because you have not examined anything, you do not know whether you are on a tightrope in a windstorm or having a coffee on a sunny day.
Dave
Open WorkBench is an "open source" competitor to MS Project. OWB has a less accessible interface than Project. In our assessment the less accessible interface is overcome by OWB's sophisticated levelling algorithm that is resource-focused not task-focused.
Manual for Open WorkBench
A key project management principle is:
Manage by what is delivered not by an opinion of progress. If you can't see it or touch it, it is not complete. Ask for the deliverable, not the status.
