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The EVM Newsletter™ #57                                                  June 2014
 11 RULES       PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT       TIDBIT #57        FOCUS!!        PMI R.E.P  
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The June EVM Newsletter is here, just under the wire - again, proving again that Student Syndrome does exist.

 

This issue wraps up our coverage of EVM World with a focus on the third keynote speaker. We list his eleven rules of PM that make interesting reading. It's not first occurrence of the number "eleven" in this Newsletter. You will have to find the second.

 

Management Technologies is not a PMI R.E.P. any longer. Our choice, not theirs. Meanwhile we have improved the on-line experience with our EVP Study Guide.

 

Have you or your customer been surprised by your Schedule or Cost variance? If so, why? There should be no surprises. It's about communication. This month's Tidbit addresses an aspect of communication and stakeholder management.

  

 

   

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Are you focused? Is your team focused? Are they TOO focused? We close with short discussion and video on the subject.

 

By the way, full URLs are always shown along with links. Some subscribers are prevented from clicking on links so they have the full URL to paste into their browsers. 

  

You can help make the EVM 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  [email protected]  

 

 

Ray Stratton, PMP, EVP 

Editor

 

BLOCK1 

Eleven Rules for PM and Mental Health

 

Last month the EVM Newsletter summarized two of the three keynote speakers' presentations at EVM World. Here is the third.

 

Robert  "Too Tall" Kenney gave the third keynote address on "Integrated Program Management".

 

Bob is a retired Bell Helicopter Executive Vice President and Sikorsky Aircraft Vice President with 32 years in the Aerospace and Defense industry. Bob is an expert practitioner of Earned Value management. A major accomplishment of his career was repairing a broken EVMS and restoring its ANSI 748 compliance. His talk was well received. He has seen it, found it broken, and fixed it.

 

He provided some nuggets on EVMS, PM, and an idea to keep sane (with my comments in parentheses):

  1. An EVMS System Description should be 100 pages or less, any more is a chance to get trapped
  2. Be in sync with your customer (no surprises, ever!) (See related story.)
  3. Enforce a "Good ideas cut-off date", (sorry engineers, maybe on the next project)
  4. There are no new problems, just new people seeing old problems for the first time
  5. Better, faster, cheaper - pick two (You can only make one side of the Triple Constraint fixed.)
  6. Use live data (month old data is ancient history, weekly EVM data is better)
  7. You get what you inspect, not what you expect (prove your EV is true)
  8. Project/Program Managers, act like you work for the CAMs (facilitate, empower)
  9. It's never too early to over-react (problems don't get smaller with time)
  10. You only learn from those who disagree with you (don't defend, listen)
  11. Have fun. If you don't laugh out loud within the first hour of work get a new job
 

 

 BLOCK5P.M.I    R.E.P.   R.I.P

Did you notice? The PMI R.E.P. logo is missing from this EVM Newsletter. After being part of the PMI Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.) program since its beginning Management Technologies has elected not to renew our R.E.P. status for a variety of business reasons. 

 

We can no longer offer Category "A" PMI PDUs. But anyone attending our training can claim Category "B" PDUs. Our material remains unchanged and meets the same quality standards. While PMI may challenge a Category "B" PDU claim we will back up the claim with a money back guarantee. 

 

We will provide proof of attendance and the training outline to PMI if needed. If PMI denies a Category B claim for our training we will refund the cost of the training (prorated in the case of an on-site group.) 

 

In the end, when recertifying a PMI certification, a PDU is a PDU. 

 

  

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BLOCK2

EVPrep™ On Line Version Improved

We have been offering "Ray Stratton's Earned Value Professional (EVP) Study Guide" since 2006 as a resource to help prepare for the AACE EVP exam. Originally it was a bound book. We added a PDF EVPrep Book Cover download to overcome challenges with international shipments and customer requests. Each of these versions include explanations for all the questions in the Guide.

 

Two years ago we added an on-line Guide. This requires active internet access. The questions appear as an on-line testing experience. All three versions have the same content. However the on-line version only gave the correct answer and explanation if the answer given was incorrect. A customer said this was a problem. If they guessed the correct answer then they did not see the explanation. So while they were correct they did not know why they were correct.

 

This has been fixed. Now on-line Guide users get the explanation to all questions when they are scored. Even if you guess correctly, you will know why you are correct.

  

 http://www.mgmt-technologies.com/earned%20value%20management%20EVP%20Study%20Guide.html

 

 

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Quotable Quote
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"You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts" 


 

 

 J. Sweeney, SES, DCMA

EVM World 2014

  

 

BLOCK3

"What We Have Here is Failure to ..."

 

What is the key component of all project environments can spell success or failure of a project.

 

It's when, how, what, and to whom you communicate. If your project is not doing well maybe you need to reinvent your project environment communication. Next month we review a book on that subject.

 

   

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BLOCK4Tidbit #57, EVM Data With No Surprises

No one likes surprises. Was the last reported Cost Variance or Schedule Variance a surprise to your customer? It should not be that way. Don't let them be surprised. They might not know the values of SV and CV but they should know what to expect. surprise

 

Project success is built upon trust. Trust is built from friendships. There should be no surprises. When you learn it, share it. We are in this together. Are you and your Point of Contact (POC) friends too. Here is a test. 

 

How well do you know your customer/contractor POC? Pretty well?

 

You are in California; your customer/contractor is in Virginia. It's Friday 4 PM at your weekly wrap-up meeting. You just learned that the subassembly that arrived two weeks late has failed acceptance testing. Impact to the project's cost and schedule is inevitable. Here is the test. Can you make this call?

 

"Melissa, I know it's Saturday but I had to call you at home. First, how did Trevor and Logan do in their soccer game?" ....

 

....

 

"I want to give you a heads up for our conference call with the team on Monday. We have a problem....."

 

What does this have to do with EVM?  The month end EVM data will show the above problem in CV or SV or both. But that might be weeks after the problem occurred. EVM data alone does not build trust. When you learn it, be able to share it.

 

Know your customer/contractor POC as a friend. 

  

 

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Management Technologies Products & Services 
EVPrep and EVM Workshops

EVPrep Exam Prep Workshop (14 PDUs)

 

The workshop covers all the topics likely covered in the exam and provides exam-like questions 

EVP Pin

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)

Classroom

 

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.

 

Where Can I Find More Tidbits?

 

Where can you go to find old EVM Newsletter Tidbits?

map

 

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. 

 

All the Tidbits are available via a link 

 

 

 

(http://www.mgmt-technologies.com/The%20EVM%20Newsletter%20tidbits%20archive.htmlthat lists each topic or theme. The link is on all our web pages as well. 

     

 

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Conferences and Events

 

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

 

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BLOCK9Focus, Focus, Focus

 

We usually use this phrase to reinforce someone's attention on a key item. 

 

But in PM it should mean we need to "focus" on schedule, "focus" on cost and "focus" on technical features. Yes, all three. So, as reported last month, it was a surprise to the NASA IG that "....when asked whether their projects had been successful, every project manager we interviewed answered in the affirmative, regardless of the project's fidelity to cost and schedule goals." 

 

Next time you think that your or your team is not focusing on all these elements maybe you can recall this one minute video. It illustrates what happens when the focus is just on the technical (as engineers tend to do). Take note of the very last line of dialog.

 

Spinal Tap -
 
    http://youtu.be/4xgx4k83zzc

  

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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. (AACE�).

 

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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