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The EVM Newsletter™ from Management Technologies |
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Management Technologies Services
>Third Party EVMS Certification |
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| EVPs and EVPs |
In Hannibal Missouri I was reminded that there are at least two types of EVPs.
There are Earned Value Professionals. And there is electronic voice phenomena, voices from spirits that is detected with specialized electronic equipment.
If you need help with EVM make sure you get the help from the correct source.
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| NASA's Rocket Science, Great; EVM, Not So |  |
According to a GAO report published November 19th "GAO found shortfalls in two of three fundamental practices. Specifically, we found that more than half of the projects did not use an EVM system that was fully certified as compliant with the industry EVM standard.
"Recommendation: To improve NASA management and oversight of its spaceflight projects, the NASA Administrator should direct the appropriate offices to establish a time frame by which all new spaceflight projects will be required to implement NASA's newly developed EVM system, unless the project is proposing to use a certified system, to ensure that in-house efforts are compliant with ANSI/EIA-748."
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| Quotable Quote |  | |
"Scientists discover what is,
engineers create what has not been."
Von Karmon
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Forward to a friend
Did you find this newsletter interesting?
Forward it to a friend!
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AACE Approved Education Provider | |
PMI Registered Education Provider
Constant Contact All Star Award (2nd year)
(Less than 5% of Constant Contact customers are
All Stars.)
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| Earned Schedule Conference | | |
Next year is the 10th anniversary of "Schedule is Different", the landmark article by Walt Lipke that introduced Earned Schedule.
A conference is being organized to mark the occasion and to address new developments and challenges, and to strengthen the network of ES practitioners and researchers.
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Having a Satisfied Customer,
Priceless
Having Status Meetings, Useless |  |
Does your organization conduct weekly or monthly status meetings? Are they a waste of time?
Usually the PM chairs the meeting and after some introductory comments it's time to go around the room so each person can give an update in their area.
Typically this devolves to a problem solving discussion involving a few attendees while everyone else waits for their turn. As time presses on those who have spoken leave the room for more important work while the few remaining tell their news to fewer and fewer people. Little information was really shared. Is there a better way?
Project status can be reported and shared via email. EVM data should say a lot. Who needs a status meeting?
So instead let's have everyone show up for a risk management meeting. Risks are what will throw off our plan. The discussion is now about what work is planned between now and the next risk meeting, and what risks concern us about completing that work. Status is history. Focus on the future.
Either way the PM gets to feel important since they called a meeting and people actually showed up!
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| Never, Ever, Grow Up |  | |
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Here is the November EVM Newsletter.
The biggest news in the last month was Hurricane Sandy and its impact to the eastern US.
Part of the impact was the cancellation of the Integrated Program Management Conference. We have details on the reschedule event.
The biggest news from Management Technologies is the release of our interactive on-line EVP Study Guide. This on-line experience complements our pdf download version and bound book version. Now you can study for the EVP from a book, reviewing a pdf file, or interactively from a tablet or computer.
While EVM is not rocket science, NASA has apparently found it harder than rocket science. A GAO (Government Accountability Office) study reports that NASA's EVM fell short of expectations. There is link to GAO's report.
Our tidbit is how to apply a "Gold Rule" to help your project follow the project plan as it goes into execution.
Do you have project status meetings? Pretty boring. Probably a waste of time. We propose an alternative.
 
Next month we'll report on the reschedule Integrated Program Management Conference.
You can help make this newsletter interesting by contributing news about your activities in EVM, your company, product announcements, or your projects. Each month starts with a blank sheet, we don't make this stuff up! Send news to me at
evinfo@mgmt-technologies.com
Ray Stratton, PMP, EVP
Editor |
 | EVP Study Guide Now On-Line! | |
Our well known EVP Study Guide is now an on-line interactive experience!
Since 2008 "Ray Stratton's Earned Value Professional (EVP) Exam Study Guide" has been well received by the EVM community according to many posts in LinkedIn's "EVP Study Group". The Study Guide consists of some introductory material and then EVM related questions. Lots of them. Easy ones, hard ones, really hard ones. The Study Guide's goal is to cover all the topics that might be asked on the EVP exam. (None of the questions in the Study Guide are found in the EVP exam.) The user will then understand their strong and weak areas so that they can study wisely.
Initially the Study Guide was available as a bound book that was shipped to customers worldwide. Shipments continue today. But challenges in the delivery to some international destinations resulted in the creation of a downloadable pdf file version in March 2011. The pdf version had no shipping problems and no shipping costs. A pdf reader device (computer, laptop, or tablet) was necessary of course. If you didn't carry a pdf reader device the bound book was a better choice. The pdf version is also still available.
Tablet computers got cheaper. For many people the tablet is now a constant companion and Internet access is easily found at work, home, restaurants, clubs, airports, coffee shops, and just about everywhere in between. It was time for an on-line Study Guide. Get on-line, open a browser, log in, and continue where you left off. Our on-line interactive Study Guide is accessible from any browser capable device and requires continuous Internet access. If you have the equipment and the Internet maybe the on-line version is right for you. A pdf reader is still required for reading the introductory and closing sections, narratives and data tables for some questions.
All Study Guides are $65(USD). The bound edition has additional shipping fees depending on the destination and sales tax for California residents.
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| | Tidbit #38, Using the Golden Rule For Project Control | |
During project planning we should examine each activity and answer two questions. One, what is required for this activity to begin? Often this is shown as predecessors but we should also document more precisely what is expected for the work to proceed.
The second question asks us to define what "done" means. Again this should be documented. Often we can use the completion criteria for a predecessor as the start criteria for a successor. Keep in mind that several predecessors may feed one successor.
Now as we get into execution we should follow our carefully thought out plan and perform work per the activity network and activity criteria. The problem is human nature. Life's lessons tell us that too often we finish work later than planned. If we could have started sooner we would finish sooner, perhaps even on schedule. But if we start before we have all the knowledge and final products from predecessors we are proceeding at risk, and likely will have rework. So by starting prematurely we just end up working longer, spending more resources, and likely ending late anyway. It might be said that the earlier you start the later you will finish.
What is a Project Manager(PM) or Control Account Manager(CAM) to do to control work so that it follows our schedule and the start and completion criteria?
Apply the Golden Rule. The one that says "He who has the gold makes the rules."
Simply do not open the charge number accounts for your CAMS and team leads until you are satisfied that all the start criteria have been met. That might help prevent premature work. No money no work. (Watch for mischarging.)
CAM, "But Bill has finished his other project work and we'll lose him if we don't keep him working on something!" PM, "Call HR and see if he can take the annual ethics and anti-harassment training or see if his department can use his help for a month."
You have a plan, follow the plan. The Golden Rule works at the end of an activity too.
CAM, "We have completed the activity." PM, "Great, I'll close the charge numbers and get the dependent activities started." CAM, "Ok."
Two months later.....CAM, "Can you open the charge numbers we need to do some more work?" PM, "You said the completion criteria were met and we were done! Close the door and sit down, we need to talk."
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| | EVPrep™ and EVM Workshops | |
The following workshops are planned for the following locations:
- Reston, VA
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Atlanta, GA
Earned Value Experience (CAM) Workshop (14 PDUs)
You'll experience creating an earned value management baseline, determining earned value from project status, calculating earned value management indices, and estimating final cost and completion date. This workshop is perfect for team leads, control account managers, financial and schedule control staff, project and program managers, and chief project officers.
Excel EzEVM™Templates may be retained by attendees to implement earned value management in their organization.
Locations and Dates
View the Earned Value Experience workshop outline and get the registration form.
Interested in an on-site workshop? Send an e-mail with your your address and the number of attendees to receive a quote.
EVPrep Exam Prep Workshop (14 PDUs)
The workshop covers all the topics likely covered in the exam and provides exam-like questions and workshop discussion about each question and the possible answers. This workshop also includes an EVM analysis question to help prepare you for the three page written essay in Part II (was part IV).
Take this workshop and save $150 on the exam. Attendees are given a temporary limited membership in AACE that allows you to take the exam at AACE member rates.
Locations and Dates
This is twelve hours of mock EVP exam and discussions of correct and incorrect answers.
Do you have an EVP FAQ?
View the EVPrep workshop outline and get the registration form.
Interested in an on-site workshop? Send an e-mail with your your address and the number of attendees to receive a quote.
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| Upcoming EVM and PM Conferences | |
RESCHEDULED IPMC (Integrated Program Management Conference)
(Registration is underway now.)
WHEN: 10-12 December 2012
WHERE: Bethesda, MD
MORE INFO: CPM
EVM Europe 2012
WHEN: 28-29 November 2012
WHERE: University of Twente Enschede, The Netherlands
MORE INFO: EVM Europe
(Note: Thanksgiving ({US} is 22 Nov)
Construction CPM Conference
(CPM as in Critical Path Method, not affiliated with the College of Perf. Mgmt.)
WHEN: January 27-30, 2013
WHERE: New Orleans, LA
MORE INFO: www.ConstructionCPM.com
EVM WORLD 2013
WHEN: 29-31 MAY 2013
WHERE: Naples, FL
MORE INFO: CPM
AACE International's Annual Meeting
WHEN: 30 June - 3 July 2013
WHERE: Marriott Wardman Park, Washington DC
MORE INFO: AACE
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| | Rescheduled Integrated Program Management Conference |
Our sympathies go to all who were impacted by Sandy. Here in California it's hard to help on a personal level but Management Technologies has contributed to the Red Cross recovery fund. Among the damage left behind by hurricane Sandy was the originally scheduled Integrated Program Management (IPM) Conference schedule for Bethesda MD. The good news is that the organizers have rescheduled the IPM Conference to December 10-12, at the same hotel in Bethesda. If your workload or other events prevented you from attending IPM Conference previously perhaps the December dates will work for you. If you did register for the November dates the organizers released the following statement, "We are offering our registrants for the original conference the opportunity to either "roll over" their registration to the rescheduled conference in December or cancel completely and receive a full refund. Those attendees who cancelled their registration on or after Thursday, October 25 because of the impending storm and were told before the conference was rescheduled that they would not be able to get a refund are eligible for a full refund under this policy. However, if you previously cancelled but would like to attend the rescheduled conference, you will need to re-register online beginning Thursday, November 8, 2012." For the up-to-date conference agenda, please visit www.ipmconference.org Back to Top |
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Do you have news to share? Send your news item and we'll review it for posting in a future EVM Newsletter.
Sincerely,
Ray Stratton, PMP, EVP
Management Technologies |
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Copyright 2012, Management Technologies
The EVM Newsletter, EVPrep, The Earned Value Management Maturity Model, EVM3, EzEVM, CAMcert, and The Earned Value Experience are trademarks of Management Technologies.
The Earned Value Professional , EVP, and the AEP logo
are marks of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering, International. (AACEŽ).
The PMP, PMBOK, PMI, and R.E.P. , and the Registered Education Provider logo are
registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
EVM World is a
registered trademark of the College of Performance Management, Inc. |
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