A clear and detailed project documentation is essential for the success of the project itself.

Every good project manager knows it well!

In fact, it is necessary to be constantly updated to stay on track with the project.

However, project documentation drafting can be a difficult and unloved task.

For some organizations and projects there are even legal requirements to be met for the drafting and storage of documents. These are mandatory requirements that, if not respected, can make in trouble not only the single project, but the company itself.

All clear then, project documentation is important and its correct drafting and conservation is essential.

So what’s the problem? The problem is actually very simple: most people hate to compile documentation.

It’s a time-consuming process!

It is considered boring and often underestimated or ignored not only by the collaborators who have to deal with it, but also by the people who requested it.

Each project is unique and therefore requires unique documentation to help to guide the project to a successful conclusion.

Hence, it’s very important to identify which documents are critical for each project.

Below we provide a simple project classification that could help to identify relevant documentation:

• Small projects: these projects last one to four months. The emphasis is on speed and completion of the project as quickly as possible. Examples of such projects are the creation of a website or simply an upgrade of existing systems.
• Medium-sized projects: these projects take up to 12 months to complete and are the standard for most companies. They are not that fast and usually involve external suppliers. The risk level and control of changes increases with respect to small projects.
• Super dimensional projects: these are the largest and most complex projects. It may even take years to complete them. An example of this project is the construction of a building.

Determination of project documentation needs

An important question to ask itself for each project is: what is the minimum project documentation needed?

In fact, written documentation requires time and money. Therefore, project size has an impact on the number of documents needed.

Furthermore, the development of project documentation becomes even more crucial when working with public administration and public institutions.

It is, for example, the case of the medical, pharmaceutical or defense sectors.

An Australian study of CSIRO (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) link to the target = blank site, which took into consideration about 350 companies, found that incomplete documentation caused a reduction in the efficiency of the project.

In cases where there was very little documentation, the projects had an average completion of 11% which, to say it is superfluous, is a very low percentage.

For small projects, the emphasis is therefore on minimum requirements and minimum documentation.

Medium-sized projects gradually require more documentation, while large projects require maximum documentary effort because they require a high level of communication and coordination.

Create the right documentation

Sometimes project managers do not want to create new documents for each of their projects.

As an alternative, they can use a wide range of proven project models.

This allows the project manager to have more time to focus on the actual project, rather than wasting time on developing new documents from scratch.

Whether the project manager manages the entire project lifecycle or simply a phase, he will still have to deal with details and information from various sources.

Thinking to the input coming from customers, users and sellers, at some point he will have to write something.

Specifically, the project documentation focuses on:

• Define the purpose and scope of the project;
• Identify results and key points;
• Document the technical parameters and the technologies to be used;
• Address the way deliverable will be built or distributed;
• Evaluate elements such as quality, scope, resources, risks, training and costs;
• Document any backouts or unexpected events that may occur;
• Communicate progress and update project stakeholders.

Once again we can understand how much correct documentation is fundamental for the success of a project.

Whether it is simple paper documents or documentation sent in electronic format, it is necessary to plan and develop the project documentation before starting the project itself.

Hence, project managers must anticipate the time required to develop these documents within project planning and update the plan every time a change occurs.

What you need to document

Regardless of the organization’s structure, the ability to record and document all aspects of a project is vital to be a successful project manager.

Reports, graphs, documents, change requests and status updates must also be kept throughout the life of a project and, very often, even beyond.

It is important to consider the following to determine what to include into documention:

• Customer documentation: a simple example is sufficient for this topic. Imagine that a customer ask to the project manager information about a decision made a couple of months ago. The customer claims to have clearly chosen a direction, but the company has decided to follow another one. Clear documentation on customer meetings, with specific dates, times and participants, will help everyone to remember the decision made and to clarify any misunderstanding.
• Legal documents: For some projects there are legal requirements that require making specific documents. For public projects, for example, supervisory and review processes may be necessary to analyze a project after its completion. The legal requirements of a project must be clear already at the beginning of the project itself.
• Process documentation: important processes within a project must be documented. This documentation may also be useful as a resource for any similar future projects. In case of doubt, the best approach is always to document.
• Project Change Documentation: Project updates are essential to document when objectives, or project execution, change due to internal factors or external causes. Stakeholders must also be informed of these changes and receive the relevant documentation.

Documentation best practices

What are the best strategies to use to maintain effective, efficient and timely documentation? Here are the best practices:

• Taking the time: many people think that the calendar is only used to setup meetings. It’s not just like that! The calendar can be used to program blocks of time to to reflect and for drafting of an essential document for the project. We need to take some time to write an official document. This can‘t happen when you keep answering the phone, writing emails and talking with your co-workers. Likewise, you can plan 10-15 minute blocks every week to review and update the documentation.
• Enter the right details: depending on the documentation target, this must contain more or less details and, depending on the role of the target audience, the details must be of a certain type or another. For example, an engineer will need the project technical details, while a marketing manager will be focused on other factors. The project manager must to consider the right level of detail in the documentation.
• Smart Storage: documentation must be easy to identify and easily accessible. This also includes the use of clear and easily identifiable keywords.
• Share: the documentation must be shared and must not be saved individually on the project manager’s PC. Sharing the documentation, with the right collaborators, also allows you to receive constructive feedback if changes are necessary.
• Updating the documentation: as the project progresses, it is necessary to ensure that the project documentation is correctly updated. Needless to waste time in writing initial documents and then lock them in oblivion.

In conclusion, documentation is certainly a difficult topic for many project managers, but it is a fundamental tool that in some cases can even simplify the execution of the project.

Hence it’s important to give the right value to the project documentation.

That’s why in TWproject we have made the life easier!

Document management is a large topic, so there are dozens of specific applications (called DMS).

In Twproject we don’t want to compete with these specific tools. We are, in fact, aware that every company has its own system of document storage, tested and structured.

That’s why we have chosen to keep the management of documents to the essential. At the same time we have decided to integrate this aspect with some powerful and simple technique.

Therefore, we have created an intelligent system for managing and archiving project documents in Twproject.

Your documents will always be one click away from your projects (and resources, and even from issues).

You will be able to connect and access to your documents in two ways:

• Uploading a document directly to TWproject
• Creating a link to a file archive
• Adding a link, if you already have a document repository,

In this way you will have access to your documents directly from Twproject: a single place from where to manage everything and put everything available to the team.

Not bad, right?

All while working, also remotely or accessing from mobile.

In short, we have tried to meet all the needs of the PM to concretely support the need to manage project documents.

And what is your relationship with the project documentation?

Is it a difficult task for you or are you part of the project managers who not struggling dealing with it?

Give us your opinion, but above all, tell us what are the needs about that.

We would like to know what else we may implement in the software to improve your work.

In project management, the Earned Value method is one of the most appreciated and well-known project management tools.

It is a project management technique that allows to measure performance and progress.

It combines the measures of the project management triangle: scope, time and costs.

In a unique integrated system, the Earned Value Method is able to give accurate predictions on the performance problems of a project.

Therefore, you can understand how important its contribution to project management can be.

What is the Earned Value Method?

The Earned Value Method method is also known as Earned Value Analysis (EVA).

This method allows the project manager to measure the amount of work actually performed on a project.

Thanks to the EVA, it is possible to measure the project according to the progress achieved.

Using the measured progress, the project manager is therefore able to predict the total cost of a project and its completion date.

Often the term “earned value” refers to the Budgeted Cost of Worked Performed or BCWP.

This value allows the project manager to calculate the efficiency indices of the project.

Moreover, it provides information on how the project is progressing in relation to its original planning.

These indices, if applied to future activities, allow to predict how the development of the project in the future will be, provided that the performance indices do not fluctuate.

The requirement for the Earned Value Analysis

In order to have an accurate Earned Value Analysis, the creation of a solid project plan is needed.

In particular, it is possible to use the Scope Statement, the real fondation of a project.

In short, the Scope Statement is a document wrote by the project manager on the project start-up.

It includes project goals and objectives, final product requirements, major milestones, and project risk analysis.

In order to develop that common understanding of the work required for a project, another key structure should be created, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

The WBS is a proper list of all project activities, a hierarchical decomposition which focuses on the deliverable of the project.

Each descending level represents an increasingly detailed definition of the project’s work.

A WBS records the hierarchy and description of the tasks that have to be performed and their relationship with the final product.

The WBS breaks down all working sectors into appropriate planning elements.

Budget definition, cost accounting, progress measurement and management control.

Project planning is therefore a necessity not only for using the Earned Value Method, but also for the success of the project in general.

Once the bases have been established, let’s look at the three necessary information that allow to calculate the EVA.

The fundamental concepts of the Earned Value

The Earned Value Method allows the project manager to answer the following three questions about the project:

1. Where were we?
2. Where are we now?
3. Where are we going?

Unlike traditional management, in the Earned Value Method there are three data sources:

• Planned value – PV;
• Actual value – AV;
• the earned value of the concrete work already completed.

Starting from these three sources, the Earned Value Method extrapolates the data and is able to compare them.

The planned value

The planned value describes to what extent the activities of a project should be at a determined point in the project schedule and in the cost estimation.

The baseline of the project schedule and of the costs refer to the planned physical work and the budget approved in order to complete the planned activities.

Together, these two values define an important value: the planned value (PV).

This value can be analysed in two ways: cumulative or current.

The cumulative PV is the sum of the approved budget for the planned activities that have to be performed in general, througout the project.

On the other hand, the current PV is the approved budget for the planned activities that have to be performed during a given period.

This period could refer to days, weeks, months, etc.

The actual cost 

The actual cost (AC), also called the actual cost of the work performed (ACWP), is the real cost incurred for the execution of a task for a project.

This value refers to what has actually been spent and, as in the case of the planned value, can be either cumulative or current.

The cumulative AC is the sum of the actual cost for all the activities performed up to the historical moment in which it is calculated.

On the other hand, the current AC is the actual cost of the activities performed during a given period. Here too the period can refer to days, weeks, months, etc.

The earned value (EV) of the completed work 

The earned value is the quantification of the value of the work actually performed up to a certain date.

In other words, the EV refers to what was achieved during the project.

The cumulative EV is the sum of the budget for the activities performed up to the date when this value is calculated.

The current EV is the sum of the budget for the activities carried out in a given period.

Variance Analysis

The variance analysis is a method where the achieved results of a project are compared to the expected results.

When a project is approved, certain expected results are established, as well as a planning in order to achieve them.

The variance analysis, in case of failure to achieve those results, helps to understand the amount of difference between the expected results and those actually achieved.

After having evaluated the gap, it becomes fundamental to understand what were the causes of this failure.

This technique is used to highlight cost and time variances, ie the cost variance and the schedule variance.

Cost Variance (CV)

This value indicates how the project is evolving with respect to the initially estimated budget.

The cost variance is calculated by subtracting the earned value from the costs actually incurred, here is the formula: CV = EV – AC.

If the result equals 0, it means that the project is perfectly respecting the budget.

If the result is negative, this means that the project is out of budget, ie the costs incurred are greater than those planned.

It is therefore necessary to take action.

On the other hand, if the result is positive, it means that the project is under budget, ie the costs incurred are lower than those planned.

Schedule Variance (SV)

With respect to the scheduling initially approved, the project may be late, in advance or in line with the initial planning.

This value represents the Schedule Variance (SV).

It is essential to understand how this value does not provide data on the impact that any delay in work has on the project and its results.

It simply indicates whether the work is in line with the planning or not.

The Schedule Variance, which shows the actual situation of the project with respect to planning, is obtained by subtracting from the earned value the planned costs up to the moment in which the analysis is carried out.

Here is the formula: SV = EV – PV.

If the result is 0, it means that the project is in line with the planning.

If the result is positive, it means that the project is ahead of schedule.

On the other hand, if the result is negative, it means that the project is behind the schedule and it is necessary to take action.

Project efficiency indexes

Another analysis that can be performed using the Earned Value Method is that of project efficiency.

In particular, there are two types of efficiency analysis: the Schedule Performance Index (SPI) and the Cost Performance Index (CPI).

The SPI is an indicator of the efficiency of the program of a project.

In fact, it is the ratio between the earned value (EV) and the planned value (PV): SPI = EV / PV.

If the SPI is equal to or greater than one, this indicates a favorable condition. This means that the project is being carried out efficiently.

On the contrary, a value lower than one indicates a negative situation.

The CPI is the indicator of economic efficiency of a project and is the ratio between the earned value (EV) and the actual costs (CA): CPI = EV/AC.

A CPI equal to or greater than one indicates a favorable condition and a value below one indicates a negative situation.

Therefore, in general, it is possible that our project is in line with the planning or is efficient or inefficient.

But which are the most frequent causes that determine these deviations? Let’s see them together.

The efficiency of a project can be reached thanks to the following conditions:

• Less complex work than expected;
• Less revisions and re-elaborations;
• Favorable market fluctuations in labor or material costs;
• Decrease of expenses in general.

On the other hand, the possible causes that lead to an inefficiency of the project could be:

• More complex work than expected;
• Many reviews and re-elaborations;
• Unclear requirements;
• Scope Creep or uncontrolled change of scope, ie the deviation of the project scope from what initially agreed and planned;
• Unfavorable market fluctuations in labor or material costs;
• Increase of expenses in general.

Estimate and budget upon completion

Let’s now how to analyze the future.

We are not talking about magic, but about what is expected to happen in a project, given the measurements of the progress recorded until the moment we perform the analysis.

These estimates allow us to see when the project will be completed and how much it will cost to complete it.

Therefore, we examine the Estimate At Completion (EAC) and the Budget At Completion (BAC).

The EAC is the total cost expected for a scheduled activity.

It is considered that the remaining work is performed on schedule and based on the current CPI and SPI.

The EAC is a periodic evaluation of the project.

It is usually carried out on a monthly basis or when there is a significant change in the project.

A common formula that allows to determine the EAC is expressed as the budget to completion divided by the current project IPC: EAC = BAC / CPI.

The BAC indicates the total value of the costs initially foreseen for the project and is calculated by summing the initial costs foreseen for each individual activity.

The BAC must always be equal to the total PV of the project.

If these two values do not match, the calculations related to the earned value will be inaccurate.

In conclusion, here are five basic rules for effective Earned Value Management:

1. Organize the project team and the project scope using a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS);
2. Plan activities in a logical way so that the lower level elements support the following elements and the higher level milestones;
3. Check the budget regularly;
4. Establish objective means to measure the realization of work. The budget should always respect what is planned.
5. Control the project by analyzing the cost and time deviations, evaluating the final costs, checking the changes with respect to the project baseline and developing corrective actions when necessary.

It must be clear that applying the Earned Value Method is certainly more complex than it may appear in this article.

A lot of discipline and detailed information are needed to manage it properly.

But we think, it is useful to simplify the concepts in order to make the approach easier for those who want to experiment with this method.

What is essential to remember is that everything starts with good project planning.

Have you ever put the Earned Value Method into practice in one of your projects?

How was your experience?

Tell us about it.

With lessons learned, we talk about learning from the mistakes, and not only, of the past.

We could apply infinite proverbs to this statement, but we want to recall only one: “Errare humanum est, perseverare autem diabolicum”

Lesson Learned: the study of Axelos PPM Benchmark

According to the recent study by AXELOS PPM Benchmark, almost half of project managers who rarely (or never) revise projects have faced a project failure in the last 12 months.

On the other hand, only 34% of those who always (or almost always) review the project, have experienced a failure during the last year.

These results give further importance to the argument that “lesson learned” from past projects should be an integral part of project management.

So why is this aspect so often overlooked?

Learning from past projects and activities should be a continuous effort throughout the project life cycle.

This mentality should be strongly encouraged by the project manager right from the beginning.

Whether the lessons learned are used to prepare ongoing projects, or used to identify any improvement within the project, learning from the failures or successes of past projects becomes a very important element.

Not considering what went wrong during a project is simply stupid. It means to be in a position where we will repeat the same mistakes.

On the contrary, even not to highlight the successes of a project and how these have been achieved is a mistake.

You lose the opportunity to implement good processes and best practices that can contribute to the successful completion of an existing or future job.

In short, the lessons learned are documented information that reflects both the positive as well as negative experiences of a project.

They represent the organization’s commitment to excellence in project management.

For the project manager, it is an opportunity to learn from the real experiences of others.

The process of learning occurs during and at the end of each project, whether short or complex.

The best way is to hold a session to identify the lessons learned.

It should be conducted at different times according to the critical issues and complexity of the project.

The more complex the project, the more the sessions should be.

If you wait until the end of the project, especially if it is long and complex, you could lose some key points.

Project managers, team members and stakeholders can all be interested in reviewing the lessons learned and making decisions about how to use the acquired knowledge.

How does the process of lessons learned work

The process of collecting and evaluating lessons learned includes the five following steps:

• Identification;
• Documentation;
• Analysis;
• Archiving;
• Recovery.

1) Identification of lessons learned

This first phase consists in identifying comments and recommendations that could be useful for future projects.

The project manager, or the person responsible for data collection, should give all project’s collaborators, and possibly also stakeholders, a project survey.

The project survey will help identify input and lessons learned.

Thanks to the survey, all the points of view and the experiences will be collected.

Three key questions should be included in the survey:

1. What went well;
2. What went wrong;
3. What should be improved.

2) Documentation of lessons learned

The second step in the lessons learned process is to document and share the results.

After the lessons learned have been acquired, they should be reported to all project stakeholders.

The final report must be kept and stored together with all the project documentation.

This report should give an overview of how the process of lessons learned works.

It must also contain a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the project as well as the recommendations for the future.

3) Lessons learned analysis

The third phase of the process consists of analyzing and organizing the lessons learned in order to apply the results.

Information is shared with other team members during organizational meetings.

As a result of the lessons learned, improvements in the project management process or training needs are often identified.

4) Archive the lessons learned

The documents on the lessons learned are archived together with other project documents.

They must always be easy to consult.

For this reason, organizations often set up a portfolio of lessons learned in the shared unit.

This allows to make the reports available to everyone that might be interested.

5) Recover the lessons learned

Although the lessons learned reports are stored on a shared unit, without the possibility to search for keywords, it is difficult to find them.

Therefore, it is important to store them in an orderly and easily retrievable manner, so that even those who have not directly participated in the project can find them.

Organizations have different approaches with which they manage – or do not manage – the lessons learned.

Let’s see this in detail.

Management of lessons learned: Type 1

The organizations belonging to this first type do not collect the lessons learned.

Almost always there is no defined process for analyzing and evaluating them.

Lessons learned, if taken into account, are managed without standardized tools or consistency between the projects.

This makes them unreadable and uncomparable.

What organizations of this type need is a defined process and basic tools and techniques.

In this type of business it is important that the project manager sees the lessons learned as constructive.

He must therefore transmit this conviction to the project team and to the stakeholders.

Management of lessons learned: Type 2

Here organizations have a defined process and basic tools to identify and document lessons learned.

The process is already part of the corporate culture.

It is applied consistently to projects and processes that have been revised to achieve greater efficiency.

Although the organizations of this type are constantly taking into account the lessons learned, they do not use them in a correct, complete and effective way.

What these organizations need are effective tools.

It is necessary to identify the actions that can be undertaken within the company in order to strengthen weak areas.

After that, these actions have to be implemented during each project.

This can be done through better training of the project manager and / or of the team members.

It could also mean procedures or processes added or improved.

The people responsible for analyzing the lessons learned should have a role within the company that allows them to implement the solutions.

It is also important that data collection takes place using consistent processes and forms.

The coherence of input information enables faster identification of recurring problems and proactive resolutions.

An example of an effective tool for collecting lessons learned is the construction of an input form.

This document consents a consistent collection of data as well as providing a means for easier recovery.

The model should include fields such as: category, lesson learned, actions taken, how the action was taken, keywords, etc.

Keywords will be essential for an easy and quick recovery.

Management of lessons learned: Type 3

This third type of organization is normally able to perform a complete analysis of the lessons learned.

It is also able to convert this information into concrete actions.

The reports are well structured, using charts and diagrams, everything is consistent and maintained in a centralized unit.

Let’s repeat an important concept:

collecting, analyzing and learning from lessons learned should be a continuous effort throughout the life of the project. 

Everyone from the project manager to the project team, from bord of directors to stakeholders, should contribute to the collection, documentation and archiving of lessons learned for the benefit of future projects.

Do you collect and correctly use lessons learned in your company?

Is there a lesson learned that you remember the most or has left you important ideas to improve your project?

Share your experience in a comment.

The triangle of talent, not just a simple shape, but the golden triangle of the Project Manager.

Would you like to know more? I will try to explain it to you.

Let’s briefly think about what are the most important qualities for a successful project manager.

Everybody, both those who have worked for years in this world, as well as those who have just started, will certainly report the qualities of the project manager that are in line with what we will see in shortly.

Considering the many skills, talents and competencies required for this role, it is clear that project management requires many qualities and skills.

And in order not to leave any doubt, the Project Management Institute (PMI) outlined the ideal set of skills of a project manager in a model called the “Triangle of Talent“.

This model synthetically analyzes the art of project management in the three categories we will now see.

Let’s find out what skills make a project manager, a successful figure.

The three sides of the Triangle of Talent

The Triangle of Talents contains the ideal set of skills for project managers.

Its three sides include the following skills:

• Technical skill;
• Leadership;
• Business strategic management.

The beauty and charm of the Triangle of Talents lie in the combination of skills, elements of business management with technical skills in project management, and human and social skills.

The most successful project managers use all three of these areas in order to grow in their work.

The first side of the Triangle of Talents: Technical skill

A project manager could not excel in his work without the technical know-how of the sector in which he operates.

This includes not only the specific skills of project management, but also the knowledge of the industry in general.

Proper technical skills and knowledge are in fact fundamental to successfully complete the project.

A project manager needs to know how to calculate the so-called earned value, how to manage costs, how to do a risk analysis, etc.

The PMI outlines some of the specific technical skills that the project manager should possess, including:

• Agile practices;
• Earned value management;
• Project life cycle management;
• Management of project requirements;
• Schedule management;
• Time, budget, cost estimate;
• Data collection and analysis;
• Governance;
• Performance management;
• Risk management;
• Scope management.

As previously said, a successful project manager needs a solid understanding of the industry in which he operates.

In fact, the daily work of a PM can vary depending on the sector in which he works.

If he does not know the environment surrounding a project, he will have difficulties in understanding any problems and in finding solutions.

Moreover, due to lack of technical experience, the project manager may lose the respect of the members of the team.

In short, the lack of technical knowledge could lead to problems related to the understanding of project details and technical problems.

Both of these factors could jeopardize the future of the project.

Technical knowledge, commonly known as “hard skills“, can be learned, studied and refreshed through training courses, seminars, webinars, etc …

This side of the Triangle of Talents certainly represents the most concrete and easy to learn quality, but in order to have it, dedication is certainly necessary.

The second side of the Triangle of Talents: Leadership

The second core competency of the PMI‘s Triangle of Talents is leadership.

A successful project manager must guide his team – or more teams – through all phases and processes of the project.

Leadership can have different forms.

Leadership expertise includes coaching and mentoring, influence on employees and stakeholders, team building and brainstorming, interpersonal skills and negotiation.

Even problem solving and conflict management are included into the leadership skills.

Project managers must guide teams towards project completion, inspiring and motivating people to continue throughout the process.

Because using leadership means
TO WIN AS A TEAM, NOT AS AN INDIVIDUAL

As an effective leader, a project manager must inspire team members about the future and offer them a vision that will help them achieve the goal.

As a leader of an effective team, a project manager must be proactive and a problem solver.

The successful project manager must have motivating qualities. At the beginning of a project the motivation is usually high, and then gradually decreases.

Here, in fact, the manager’s motivation capacity is essencial.

Motivating the team is certainly hard and complex, but essential for the good success of the project.

A project manager should also have management and delegation skills that enable him to do his job in the best way and with the right support.

He must be able to understand who to entrust with a particular responsibility or particular task, and who is not the right person.

Moreover, ensuring that the team members possess the skills required to successfully complete the work is also part of the skills of this project leader.

If skills are lacked, the project management will give the necessary training or, in general, will allow the collaborators to receive it.

The third side of the Triangle of Talents: Business Strategic Management

The third side of this magic triangle is as important as the other two.

Business strategic management makes it possible to carry out an analysis of company decisions before implementing them.

Project managers not only apply their knowledge and leadership qualities, but must also align projects with business goals.

This third side of the PMI’s Triangle of Talents includes the following skills and competences:

• Competitive analysis;
• Legal and regulatory compliance;
• Operational functions, such as finance, marketing, ecc;
• Business Acumen;
• Customer service and satisfaction;
• Awareness of the market, its conditions and its trend.

Understanding the purpose of the project and the way it supports the organization’s overall goals enable project managers to be able to drive their teams to success.

These professionals must understand what the organization is trying to achieve in general and how the specific project fits into this general vision.

This helps the organization achieve its long-term goals.

The first step towards success is found in the confirmation and acceptance of the strategic business plan by all the stakeholders.

In conclusion

As any successful project manager can state, the mixture and the right balance of skills and qualities make this figure a complete and successful professional.

That is why the Triangle of Talents works.

In today’s dynamic environment, a project manager must be versatile.

Having just one skill is not enough.

The balance of the three sides of the Triangle of Talents is not just about the possession of complementary skills.

These are all the critical areas that a project manager must master in order to succeed in his career.

The technical skills of project management help to perform specific functions or tasks, leadership skills help to achieve business goals within the organization and strategic business management helps to achieve better overall business results.

So, this is the ideal recipe for a successful project manager.

Do you agree with what the Triangle of Talents expresses?

Do you think there are other qualities that deserve to be mentioned?

Leave us your comment.

Time management is one of the most important aspects in managing a project.

In order to estimate the time accurately, it is necessary to have a correct understanding of the two concepts of effort and duration.

What is effort

Effort is the number of units of work needed to complete a task.

It is usually expressed in hours, days or weeks worked.

The effort is therefore the number of hours of work needed to complete a task, ie the actual time spent working on the project.

In order to estimate the duration of a project, first we have to determine the effort.

Let’s try to give an example to simplify the concept: if you estimate about 30 hours of active work to complete a fence, the effort will be 30 hours.

Be careful, however, that this does not mean that the fence is ready within 30 hours – unless you plan to build it for 30 hours non-stop.

The duration is the total number of work periods (excluding holidays or other non-working periods) necessary to complete an activity, so in other words it is the total time needed to complete an activity.

The duration is usually expressed as working days or working weeks and depends on the availability and capacity of the resources.

For example, if you spend 3 hours a day working on the fence, the total duration would be 10 days (30 hours of total effort divided by 3 hours / day).

But if, for example, a friend helps every day, then you would have two resources working for 3 hours a day on the fence = 6 hours a day.

The duration in this case would therefore be 5 days (30 hours of total effort divided by 6 hours / day).

However, if the friend could work only 2 hours a day, the duration would extend to 6 days because the resources would only work for a total of 5 hours a day.

The total effort is always 30 hours, no matter if there are one, two or more people working on the project.

It is not possible to reduce the effort to 15 hours if two people work on the project, but it is possible to reduce the overall completion time.

The concept of Schedule Padding

The estimates represent one of the most critical and complex areas for a project manager.

It is never certain that these are correct and there is always the doubt that they may be mistaken for excess or defect, despite all the good will in formulating them.

The estimation techniques , such as the analogy or bottom-up estimations, can provide more or less reliable estimates, but all have the same problem: they depend on the capabilities of those who formulate them.

The concept of Schedule Padding means adding more time / value to the estimate, a sort of “pad” (hence the term Padding) that can soften the “fall” in case of unexpected or errors of evaluation.

When there is not enough information or experience to make a realistic estimate, it is very easy to fall into the “Padding” technique.

In other words, there is the tendency to increase, even exceedingly, the estimate of duration due to excessive prudence.

Clearly, if everyone in the company, including the project manager, uses this technique, the final estimate would be totally exaggerated and misunderstood.

So, how to avoid Schedule Padding?

In project management, it is advisable to first estimate the effort and after that duration.

The effort is the total estimated time for the realization of a task, of an activity.

The duration is instead the time interval required for the realization of the task / activity based on the availability of resources and the project calendar.

With respect to the 8 hours that correspond to the normal working day, the TenStep methodology considers productive only 6.5 hours.

This is also a value that should be kept in mind and that is not always considered during the scheduling of a project.

Techniques to avoid Schedule Padding

There are several possible techniques to decrease the risk of Schedule Padding:

• Ask for the opinion of a disinterested professional regarding the project;
• Use the PERT method (Program Evaluation and Review Technique), also known as a 3-Point estimate, which provides a more optimistic, a more pessimistic, and a more probable estimate.
• Grant the time it takes for those who have to make the estimate without putting pressure or haste.
• Add extra time to the overall project, avoiding doing it on every single activity.
• As mentioned previously, determine the effort first and only then the duration of the activities.

Not all collaborators have the same productivity and they do have different knowledge, skills and experience.

This is why the ability to make an estimate as well as the time needed to do it can vary.

Advice for a correct estimate of the effort

Everything starts from the estimation of the effort. So let’s see some tips to better identify it:

• Estimating is an activity that is always open and should happen regularly during the project. The initial estimate will thus be increasingly deepened and gradually perfected.
• During the initial phase of a project, make sure that everyone agrees on what should be delivered and therefore estimated. With everyone, we mean the project manager and project team in the first place, but also directors and all project stakeholders.
• Involve experienced people in the analysis and estimation process and brainstorm with the people who will actually have to do the job. It is useful to have different groups of people giving an estimate to the same thing. If comparing the results shows a large disparity between the numbers, it means that the uncertainty on that specific activity, or on the project in general, is high.
• All estimates bring an intrinsic degree of uncertainty, especially in the early stages of the project in which there are more unknowns. It is essential to quantify the percentage of unknowns in the estimate and to compensate with an equivalent level of contingency.
• It is important to always consider the project risks and contingencies; never make estimates only considering the best case.
• It is essential to take into account all the phases and activities of the project, including analysis, planning, planning, realization, eventual re-elaboration, delivery, project closedown.
• Research and experimentation with different tools and estimation techniques. The estimation tools will help to consider all the different aspects of the project and will automatically add further contingency.
• Estimate the effort in points or working hours with respect to the calendar time to cope with the fact that the team is never 100% effective. You can also apply a separate conversion factor to translate the estimated effort into calendar time. This will make it easier to track the accuracy of the estimates. If, for example, the team spends 30% of the time of an average day in meetings, answering the phone and email, an appropriate conversion factor must be added, in this case corresponding to 1.4 (1/70% ).
• Formally record estimates and document how they were found, from which information and through which processes. It is important to make clear the purpose and the hypotheses estimated and highlight what is out of scope. This will not only put the project manager in a better position to defend numbers, but will also help to review and improve the estimation process in the future.

Understanding the difference between effort and duration of an activity is therefore fundamental for the correct planning of a project.

In Twproject, it is possible to estimate how much work is needed to complete a task or close an issue.

These estimates are taken into account in the assessment of the workload.

Twproject supports a third way to track the workload: planning, by task and by resource.

Each assignment can have a business plan, in terms of daily working hours. This is the highest level of detail to plan the activities of the resource.

So, we hope that the suggestions we have given you can be useful for your next project.

What do you think about it? Leave us your comment.