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Ray Stratton, PMP, EVP
Editor
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The College of Performance Management (CPM) and the EVM community at large lost a great woman and the backbone of CPM for thirteen years. Gaile Argiro (73) was the face and voice of CPM to anyone who  contacted the CPM office in VA. Board members came and went, but there was always Gaile.
I became part of CPM's Board about 2002. She had recently been hired (2001) to run the office. I had been elected to the first term of the new Vice President, Research and Standards position. Together we figured this out. We would attend the CPM board meetings, I would get an action item, and she would do more than her share to help me get it done. She made me look good. Through the years she made all the Board members look good. With my second term as VP R&S, and later Executive Vice President, Gaile continued to keep the CPM wheels turning.
To quote a former CPM Board Member: "In my many years with the organization, nothing would get done unless Gaile helped make it happen and never would you have to ask twice."... She loved what she did for CPM, our community, and each of us individually. I also loved what she did for CPM, our community, but also loved her for who she was."
Gaile was the engine that ran CPM, interfaced with PMI during our time as a part of PMI, and helped us through the issues leading to our separation from PMI. Every CPM conference ran well, and Gaile was the common element for over 13 years and 26 or so conferences.
She was also a wonderful person and a good friend. I will miss her. The EVM community is a little weaker with her absence.
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 Farewell Gary... |
On April 8, 2014, the Earned Value Management (EVM) community lost a great leader, teacher, and visionary. Gaylord (Gary) Christle (70) passed away after a very long and courageous battle
with Leukemia.
I asked Neil F. Albert, Vice Chairman, MCR, LLC to provide some insight into Gary's contribution to the  EVM Community. Here are Neil's thoughts.
"In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. Christle helped make EVM a household word within the DoD. He became intimately involved in the analysis and evaluation of the Navy's A-12 Avenger Program which had substantial overruns in cost and schedule. Gary used EVM to estimate these cost and schedule impacts and provided detailed analysis as to how they differed from the A-12 contractor's assertions. In the Pentagon's Inspector General report, criticism was placed on the Navy's Program Manager and the Pentagon leadership for putting too much credence in contractors' assurances that the A-12 was on schedule. In addition, they ignored warnings from a Pentagon analyst, Gary Christle that the program was running into trouble. Gary's cost estimates were not only reflective of the actual issues DoD faced, but worse, their impact was not recognized or was dismissed by senior leadership as being erroneous since it differed substantially from Navy and contractor projections.
"The impact that EVM had on the A-12 was huge and began a new energized era that has lasted until today where EVM was truly a valuable tool. But Gary did more than make it an important tool; he helped move its emphasis from being a financial tool, to a program management tool. His view was that the PMs needed to have first-hand knowledge and understanding of how EVM can provide them with key metrics for decision making.
"In the late 1990s, he was the force behind making the EVMS Guidelines an ANSI Standard that industry would own and follow, taking it out of the hands of Government to assure continuity of application and encourage internal surveillance.
"Gary's contributions to EVM and program management continue to be important today. Upon his retirement in 2000, Gary was honored by his colleagues through an annual Scholarship in his name. Today it is given by CPM to support the scholarly studies and scientific advancement in the fields of acquisition, program, and project management. In addition CPM named its leadership award after Gary. The "Gary Christle Leadership Award" is given for making significant contributions to the development and/or understanding of earned value management that historically has and will continue to distinguish their work.
"Gary Christle leaves us with a legacy that is hard match. But we will always recognize his contributions as we continue to build on the foundation he established for us."
Portions of the above first appeared in the CPM Measureable News several years ago.
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As mentioned in the last EVM Newsletter, I am conducting an EVM World (http://evmworld.org/) Practice Symposium Track on Agile and EVM.
I will also be highlighting Management Technologies' products and services in a Tool Track presentation. There's a raffle prize too.
Hope to see you there.
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"In all my years in business, I have found that people in meetings tend to agree on decisions that, as individuals, they know are dumb."
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There is no shortage of EVM tools in the marketplace, Management Technologies' included. Some are simple, some are complex, some are cheap, some not so. But having tools will not make EVM work. It's the people; people!
People have to want to make EVM work. Management must want to invest in the processes and want to use the data, and project staff has to want to provide the most accurate data they can. And a good measure of basic PM 101 has to be in place. So tools are not the missing part. It's people and motivation.
To prove this here is a two minute video from Procore that shows how motivation wins over the need for tools. (Management Technologies has no relationship with Procore.)
 | | Amazing Teamwork Around the World |
Link:
http://youtu.be/SWnXDXNlzW8
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| Tidbit #55, Control Account, Where Art Thou? (Part 2) |
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Last month's Tidbit talked about some of the factors to consider in deciding where to put Control Accounts (CA) within the project management structure (OBS). The WBS was one factor. Another was the realization that with every CA there is an imbedded administrative cost. The cost of maintaining the CA  should be balanced with the value and criticality of the information gained.
We ended with the question, "Which is more critical, WBS or OBS?" A debatable point, but I think WBS is more important. First the WBS should be driven by the uniqueness of the project (contract) and reflect the deliverables. The OBS should be structured by the culture and processes of the company (contractor). But the OBS has the flexibility to be designed to meet the needs of the project. So having a good WBS is more critical to CA placement than a good OBS, but you still need to have the necessary skills within the OBS.
Next in consideration should be criticality to the project and inherent risk. Some CAs have little risk. They are the routine work of all projects. But where new technologies, processes, or untested concepts are involved more detailed and lower level CAs should be considered. Recall, all CAs do not have to be at the same level in the WBS or OBS. Make the EVM CA structure fit the project.
What is not in a CA?
Corporate support tasks paid for with indirect labor and related costs. While the overhead costs need to be planned, recorded, and cost variances addressed, indirect cost work is not within the WBS or OBS. For example, if you have a centralized purchasing department, they are indirect. Their work does not appear in the WBS or OBS, and only in the IMS as a milestone ("RFP issued", "PO placed", etc.) They do not work for the PM (just ask any PM). If you have to pay direct labor for purchasing then it is not indirect and should appear in the WBS, OBS, IMB, and CA planning.
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Management Technologies Products & Services
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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). "Ray, your course is excellent preparation for the EVP Certification test. Your questions were comprehensive like the test and somewhat harder (more complex) than the real test. Your preparation course especially helped with the memo." Jeff Kottmyer NASA Do you have an EVP FAQ? (Link :http://www.mgmt-technologies.com/EVP%20FAQ.html) Does our EVPrep workshop and/or EVP Study Guide really help with the EVP exam? (Link: http://www.mgmt-technologies.com/earned%20value%20management%20EVP%20Study%20Guide.html) Using these data and data from AACE regarding yearly totals of EVP exams taken and exams passed we did some statistical analysis. Yes, our EVPrep products are effective in increasing the likelihood of passing the EVP exam. 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. |
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Where can you go to find old EVM Newsletter Tidbits?
 Since August of 2009 each EVM Newsletter has included a tidbit to help make EVM work better, be less costly, or more accurate, or timelier. Until now the only index to previous EVM Newsletters was by Month and Year. Not very useful since most EVM Newsletter content is time sensitive. But the Tidbits are not. So now all the Tidbits are available via a link (http://www.mgmt-technologies.com/The%20EVM%20Newsletter%20tidbits%20archive.html) that lists each topic or theme. The link is on all our web pages as well. ^ Back to top ^ |
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EVM WORLD 2014 (Registration is open)
WHEN: May 21-23 2014
WHERE: San Antonio, TX
MORE INFO: http://evmworld.org/
AACE International Annual Meeting
WHEN: 15-18 June 2014
WHERE: New Orleans, LA, USA
MORE INFO: AACE
9th ICEC World Congress
WHEN: 20-22 October 2014
WHERE: Milano Italy
MORE INFO: TBD
PMI Global Congress 2014 - EMEA
WHEN: 5-7 May 2014
WHERE: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
MORE INFO: TBD
PMI Global Congress 2014 - North America
WHEN: 26-28 October 2014 WHERE: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
MORE INFO: TBD
AACE International Conference WHEN: 12-13 November 2014 (Yes 2014) WHERE: Bangkok Thailand MORE INFO: AACE
PMO Symposium
WHEN:16-19 November 2014 WHERE: Miami, Florida, USA MORE INFO: TBD ^ Back to top ^ |
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A senior engineer was at the airport to board his flight to Washington DC for a meeting with the customer. As he walked to the aircraft a gust of wind blew his hat off his head and  down the tarmac it went. (Before loading bridges.) There was no recovering the hat so he boarded the plane for his flight.
The meeting with the customer went well and he returned to his office a few days later. Once he caught up with work he completed his trip expense report. On the report he claimed total expenses of $2,541, and listed "Replacement Hat $35" among the itemized cost items.
His boss said that the hat could not be claimed as an expense. Our engineer explained, as an engineer would, that the only reason he lost his hat was due to the company business trip and they should pay him for the replacement. Nevertheless, the boss said the hat could not be claimed on the report; the claim would simply have to be reworked.
Two days later the engineer returned with a new expense report, totaling $2,541. There was no hat listed. The boss questioned why the hat was not listed but the total expenses for the trip was unchanged.
Our engineer replied, "I told you I lost the hat. It's in there somewhere. You find it!"
Do you have "hats" hiding in your EVM data?
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Make sure to include a clear call-to-action, and put it near the top of your email. Tell your readers what you want them to do, and make it really easy for them to do so. For example, if you want them to "visit your website" or "buy now" make sure that link or button is easy to find and click. Whatever action you want them to take, just make sure it's loud and clear. And remember - the finger is the new mouse on mobile, so make sure it's eye-catching and there's enough space so it's easy to touch. Optional Link
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Copyright 2014, Management Technologies
The EVM Newsletter, EVPrep, The Earned Value Management Maturity Model, EVM3, EzEVM,
The CAM^Exam, 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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