Home - Tim Cermak: PM Practitioner Evangelist

2/13/2009

ECO-Technology: PM Practitioners and the ‘The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’

Being a project manager with deep competencies in scheduling I am honored and humbled to be part of a growing community that extends back decades.

One of my close personal friends is one of the original founders of PMI. Yes, he was one of a handful of scheduling practitioners meeting in their respective living rooms in the late 60's. They had this wacky idea that by working as a team, sharing best practices and growing the competencies of the practice as a community that clients and the world would be better off. Well, nearly 40 years later, almost half million members, over 20 million practitioners and a $12T (Trillion) market I think they were very pragmatic.

I thank my colleagues for their generosity and fortitude!

Now, the world is facing an economic challenge that dwarfs previous situations. The United States elected a new President, and one of the first actions was leading a multibillion dollar initiative referred to as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

This new US initiative was closely followed by a group of project managers (Schedulers) rolling out the PM Manifesto. The Goal: To apply, at all levels of governance, enlightened leadership together with the well-proven, widely-used principles, practices, and tools of modern program and project management to the large, complex, and vitally important Program to Rebuild America: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that soon will be proposed by the new Obama Administration and authorized and funded by the new 2009 Congress of the United States of America.

My ranting and pithy insights into the Scheduling scene will take a pause this round, to promote this initiative, and ask my collogues around the world to offer your expertise to scope, execute and control this massive initiative.

Reference:

According to PM pioneer Russell Archibald, co-founder of the Project Management Institute and co-author of the PM Manifesto, "The US and the world face enormous challenges today. The economic stimulus package now before the US Congress, which is expected to include billions for infrastructure and other projects around the country, should be implemented according to professional project management principles and standards and with full accountability. This is an opportunity to gain the attention of both the new administration and the general public to promote project management best practices for these programs and projects."

Michael O'Brochta, another co-author of the Manifesto and former head of the project management certification program at the CIA, added "By the way - this Manifesto is well aligned with the direction the civilian government workforce is headed as they adopt the new Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers (FAC-P/PM). That certification, which the Federal Acquisition Institute has oversight for, calls for a common set of experience, training, and competency requirements to be met to qualify for the credential."

Project management experts, leaders and practitioners in the USA are encouraged to visit http://pmmanifesto.ning.com/, to become a signatory, and to forward the information to congressional representatives and others to spread the word.

Miles Shepherd, former chair of both the Association for Project Management (APM) in the UK and the International Project Management Association (IPMA), who was also at the expert PM Forum in Washington, DC on 19 December where the PM Manifesto originated, has added, "This should be a global initiative. Billions have now been budgeted by the UK and other governments for programs and projects to stimulate economies. Every country should have its own Project Management Manifesto to encourage governmental leaders to establish best PM practices, accountability and results oriented rules."

Posted at 3:55 PM by Tim Cermak | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

1/13/2009

Eco-Technology: Demand for Scheduling Remains High; It’s Still All About the Results – A Look at Microsoft Project

Well, the 2009 calendar year has started (whether or not we want it to). 2008 presenting many new and exciting events, of which none of them I intend to recap in this post. Looking ahead, 2009 is shaping up to be equally exciting. I am guessing that Microsoft may shed a lot more light on the next version of Microsoft Project (ssshhhh, don't tell anyone).

So, as I reflect on the year (which I mentioned I won't detail the events), I couldn't help myself in looking back at previous versions of Microsoft Project. Basically, I was curious to remind myself of the history, and 'how did we get here'. That's what we do as project managers, right? We start by capturing historical data, and getting our proverbial arms around the situation at a high level.

Demand for scheduling remains high; it's still all about the results.

As I was kicking off my personal project of understanding some of the history of the largest project management technical tool in history, I have to also be a pragmatic practitioner and 'look ahead'. Forecasting; one of the most sought after concepts in business. History, status and forecasting are the main reasons project management exists, and could be the only purpose for project management practitioners. Let's face it, only the nerdiest of us get exciting about changing Gantt bar color, solving the mysterious automatic resource leveling issues, and let's not forget the always fun game of 'chase that ghost task'.

I digress! My idea (and I welcome your input as this can be a fun, group activity) is to draft a short series of posts about some of the fun history of Microsoft project, and see if we can't look ahead at what we can expect. The reason behind my madness is that Microsoft Project (from at least the Microsoft Project 98 version) has maintained a majority of the scheduling capability we use today. Now, there is no debate in my mind that scheduling IS the holy grail in business. If a company cannot uncover the activity that is driving the business AND the resource(s) doing the activity, then that company will never realize its true potential. Scheduling is decades old, and the Microsoft Project scheduling engine functionality remains mostly intact version to version (less tweaks and adjustments based on solution design). You can pull a copy of Microsoft Project 98 out of the box, and execute a majority of actions just like pulling a copy of the current Project 2007 Desktop. What makes these versions vastly different you wonder? It's the output – the user interface, reporting and integration with other systems and technologies. Let's relate project scheduling to the economy: the fundamentals are sound which remain the core value of the activity. What changes are the environmental impacts and adaptation. So, the rich reporting features, way-cool web interface and extensible integration platforms of Microsoft Project are based on the environmental pull. However, the requirement of solid scheduling and focus of results remains consistent.

Demand for scheduling remains high; it's still all about the results.

To wrap up this post, below is a list of the technical specifications and features of Microsoft Project 98 and all earlier versions. You will notice that Project 98 was an inflection point for the technology. Huge changes to the software as well as a repositioning on behalf of the Microsoft product team to align this product to potential web integration was included. Finally, I am preparing to present to a local PMI Chapter, and I intend to reference project scheduling material from the 1960's. This is the cool part for your nerdy schedulers --- the material I will reference is still relevant today ---- isn't that cool! Enjoy a quick look back, and prepare for the future – but keep on scheduling!

Demand for scheduling remains high; it's still all about the results.

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The following is a version history of Microsoft Project for Windows, beginning with the most recent version of Microsoft Project.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/98026

Version Date

-------------------------------

Microsoft Project 98 10/30/97

System Requirements:

- 12 MB memory under Windows 95

- 16 MB memory under Windows NT

- Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows NT version 3.51 or later

- 486 or higher processor

- VGA or higher resolution video adapter

- 20-40 MB of available hard-disk space

Changes:

-Project scheduling and tracking

Custom time period tracking

Task Usage and Resource Usage views

Task splitting

Effort-driven scheduling

Enhanced earned value analysis

Multiple critical paths

Status date

Multiple baselines

New fields

Changed fields

Progress lines

Honoring constraint dates

Task types

-Resource and cost management

Improved resource leveling

Resource work contours

Variable pay rates

Resource start and finish dates

User-entered actual costs

-Multiple project management

Outline consolidated projects

Increased consolidation limits

Drilling down within multiple projects

Cross-project linking

Resource pooling

-Analysis tools and methods

Microsoft Excel PivotTables

Microsoft Excel charts

AutoFilters

PERT analysis

PERT analysis views

Rollup views

-Presentation features

Web publishing

Sharing information across Office programs

Pictures in headers, footers, legends, and notes

Improved printing

-Workgroup and intranet support

Workgroup features

Out-of-the-box web solution

Microsoft Outlook reminders

-Desktop features

Microsoft Office compatibility

Easy data entry

View Bar

Indicators

Microsoft Office web extensions

Work with other task management tools

Microsoft Outlook Journal support

IntelliMouse

-Database compatibility features

New database format

SQL/Oracle support

Import/export maps

Custom fields

-Development tools

Customizable user interface elements

Enhanced development support

Events

Visual Basic Editor

-User assistance

Office Assistant and rich help

Quick Preview

Getting Started tutorial

Microsoft Project 101: Fundamentals

Visual Map

Online Microsoft Project 98 User's Guide

Technical resources

Version Date

-------------

4.1 7/20/95

System Requirements: - 6 MB memory under Windows 95

12 MB memory under Windows NT

- Microsoft Windows 95

Microsoft Windows NT version 3.51 or later

- 386DX or higher processor

- VGA or higher resolution video adapter

Changes: - Runs only on 32-bit Operating Systems mentioned

above

- Answer Wizard

- AutoCorrect

- Long File Name support

- Save to Database supports ODBC

- Ability to customize Workgroup messages to

include the fields you want

- Posting ability to Microsoft Exchange Folders

- New File Open dialog used by Office 95

- Improved speed

- Opening non native MPP files is faster

Version Date

-------------

4.0 4/15/94

System Requirements - 4 MB memory Required

8 MB memory Recommended

- Windows version 3.1 or later

Windows for Workgroups version 3.1 or later

Windows NT version 3.1 or later

- MS-DOS version 3.3 or later

- VGA or higher resolution

- 1.2 MB 5.25-inch or 1.44 MB 3.5-inch

high-density drive

Changes: - Relationship lines on Gantt Chart

- Calendar View

- Visual Basic for Applications macro language

- Workgroup features utilizing electronic mail

- Crosstab reports

- Multiple project consolidation with up to 80 files

- Common Microsoft Office menu structure

- Drawing objects and OLE object inserted directly

on Gantt Chart view

- Easily create Recurring tasks

- Individual cell and bar formatting

- Ability to save information to an Access 2.0

database

- Multiple Toolbars

- Customizable Menu bar

Version Date

-------------

3.0a 1/1/93

System Requirements: - 2 MB memory

- Hard disk

- MS-DOS version 3.0 or higher

- Microsoft Windows 3.0 or later

- 1.2 MB 5.25-inch or 1.44 MB 3.5-inch

high-density drive

Changes: Maintenance Release

- Gantt chart Rollup causing unrecoverable

application error (UAE) or general protection

(GP) Fault

- Resource Sharing causing UAE or GP Fault when

saving files

- Week numbering starts with wrong week

- Paste Linking to % Complete from outside

Microsoft Project failed

- International settings incorrect after Setup

Version Date

-------------

3.0 2/28/92

System Requirements: - 1. 2 MB of memory

- Hard disk

- MS-DOS version 3.0 or later

- Microsoft Windows 3.0 or later - 1.2 MB

5.25-inch or 1.44 MB 3.5-inch high-density drive

Changes: New version

- Macro Language (Command equivalents)

- Customizable toolbar to run Macros

- Print preview

- Improved leveling algorithm

- Dynamic data exchange (DDE) capability

- Supports OLE 1.0

Version Date

-------------

1.0 12/4/90 - 1 MB memory

- Hard disk

- MS-DOS version 3.0 or higher

- Microsoft Windows 2.0 or later

- 1.2 MB 5.25-inch or 720 K 3.5-inch drive

Changes: - Requires Windows 2.0 or later to install and run

(Run-Time Windows removed)

Version Date

-------------

1.0 4/30/90 - 1 MB memory

- Hard disk

- MS-DOS version 3.0 or higher

- Microsoft Windows 2.0 or later

- 1.2 MB 5.25-inch or 720K 3.5-inch drive

Changes: (None, first release of Microsoft Project.)

- Comes with a Run-Time version of Microsoft

Windows 2.1 (Windows 286)

Also serving as the Director of Education and Training for the PMI College of Scheduling www.pmicos.org

Posted at 9:39 AM by Tim Cermak | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

11/26/2008

Eco Technology: Can Project Management Scheduling Save You, Save the World?

I am a big fan of the hit TV show Heroes. Last season, there was a theme and slogan, "save the cheerleader, save the world". Hayden Panettiere plays Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader who learns she has 'powers'; essentially she can heal herself. This invincibility allows her to be exposed to fatal situations and remain alive. Last season, this character became the focal point of a web of characters and complicated paths that determined the fate of mankind. Now, I know this is Hollywood at its best, but the current economic events seem as if they are coming from the same wicked, psycho-thriller material that only Hollywood's brightest can conjure up.

Save the Project Management Scheduler, save the world!

If you haven't figured it out by now, I am a strong advocate of the concepts of scheduling. In simplest terms, I believe all things are boiled down to:

Activity (tasks) that need to be completed
Resources (enablers) to complete the activity

Armed with this information, problems can be solved, products can be developed, and yes, even companies and economies can 'heal'.

I live in the Detroit area, Motor City! Trust me, there are casualties abound! The heads of the Automotive Big 3 were recently grilled by the US Congress, and there was definitely a theme, being saved! The grey area is who's doing the saving? The companies themselves (self healing) or us – the Taxpayers? I also heard extended discussions about having a 'plan'. Again, the word and interpretation of 'plan' and 'planning' is very wide and creative, indeed. However, I have learned one thing from my efforts to be a productive Project Management Practitioner, and that is always have an answer to the following questions:

What is the first thing you would do if…
- You got (big) money?
- You invite people over?
- You acquire that good or service?
Who/what is going to be the resource?

Save the Project Management Scheduler, save the world!

The first step is always answering those two questions. Sure, we need vision, strategic goals and objectives, and so on. When the dust settles, the complicated web boils down to simple scheduling as the first step - - - the way forward.

I may be a bit of a simpleton here, but let me and some of my Project Management Scheduling colleagues sit with those three leaders of the US Auto companies. Armed with Project Scheduling tools, we will absolutely uncover what and how the path to closure will be done.

Save the Project Management Scheduler, save the world!

Posted at 10:14 AM by Tim Cermak | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

2/6/2008

Integrating Carbon and Silicon – Thoughts of a Practitioner

Greetings fellow professional practitioners. Recently, I was traveling across the United States, and attended face to face meetings with colleagues. The purpose of the meetings were to get to know one another, and discuss plans and actions for 2008. You see, I joined a great organization last month, and this was my first interaction with my new team. As the 'new-be' to this growing organization, I felt compelled to try and communicate the value I bring to the organization, while remaining completely open by listening and absorbing as much information about the business and those in the business as feasible. It was an exciting and exhausting period, and below are some of my thoughts following the period:

I found myself immersed in reviewing technologically driven project/business management tools
I was exposed to and offered my suggestions on ideas which elevates the impact pm technology provides
We evaluated key customers, the success and challenges they faced embracing methodology, technology and how it impacted their business
Review of industry trends, and where there are gaps that will naturally embrace enhancements
I had deep discussions and exposure to the pm industry with a Microsoft Project Most Valuable Professional (MVP)
I had professional and personal dialogue with a seasoned pm practitioner who is also a PhD candidate with Harvard University
I participated in brainstorming conversations with people who have developed databases and technology tools for governments, global retailers, etc. These people have created tools that we use today and we don't even know it
I learned about embedded technology, optimizing technology for practitioner value, etc
I review demonstrations related to add-on software, outsourced and hosted technologies and other variables that enables professionals to touch and leverage technology

As I was mulling over my experience during the lengthy plane ride home, it occurred to me that the common denominator was where people and technology intersected; with the skills, competencies and ingenuity of the practitioner to bring the technology, processes, and procedures together to deliver the results. Thus, as practitioners, we are human beings (carbon-based entity) and technology is hardware, software (silicon-based entity); that the true integration that matters is the integration of carbon and silicon.

So, fellow practitioners, I call on you to contemplate your value and how you wield the power of being the only resource that can touch and change the industry and culture based upon living in the integration between carbon and silicon. For it is this intersection and output that is driving the entire industry!

Posted at 2:45 PM by Tim Cermak | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

1/23/2008

Time Is Ticking: Knowledge Exchange for the PM Practitioner

Greetings friends. As the old cliché goes, it has been awhile since my last post. Therefore, here is a quick update for those of you who value networking and active learning. I remain very involved with 'community' activities. The professional network community in my opinion holds the future, including:

Innovation
Solutions
Resolutions
Evolutions

For those of you who are inspired by knowledge and insight, please read on.

In May of this year, the PMI College of Scheduling will be hosting their 5^th annual conference (www.pmicos.org). I am bias and a Scheduler by trade, so I think this is a must-see event. However, perhaps I can entice some of you to consider joining me? I will assume you will visit the website and event details at your leisure. However, this is my opinion regarding the value. There will be senior professional practitioners speaking and sharing; and let's face it, they will not be as public in the next 10-15 years. Scheduling has roots going back decades, including processes such as (Just to name a few):

Critical Path
PERT
Monte Carlo

This event is executed by the volunteer efforts of our colleagues. Some of who carry credentials such as being PMI member #4 and #25, as well as leaders whose careers' extend back to early 1960's. Recently, I was an observer (simply because to weigh in on the discussion would be insulting); where PMI COS leaders were discussing the status of PERT and how it should be presented in a standards environment. The exchange of information was breath-taking and comprehensive. As an observer, two main visions were crystallized in my mind:

Other professionals HAVE to be part of these discussions
In a few years, this information and insight will be lost forever

Therefore, I call on the next generation of professional practitioners, my colleagues, to TAKE ACTION. I would strongly recommend attending the upcoming PMI College of Scheduling conference, and capture history before it evaporates. Rub shoulders with the original innovators of PM Scheduling concepts and become one of the few in the world to carry the legacy that is the core of project management.

I will be planning Webcasts regarding Scheduling 2.0 – the next generation of the principles which serves as the foundation for project management. These Webcasts will be contributed towards the PMI COS event so I can accelerate spreading the word that time is slipping through our hands of creating the link / transition from legacy to future.

Please join me in my venture, and I would love to hear from you!

Cheers, Tim.

Posted at 9:27 AM by Tim Cermak | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

12/19/2007

Welcome to the Blog Dedicated to the Practitioner

Greetings! Welcome to my inaugural post of this new blog. This blog is designed to focus on the professional practitioner. As with technical applications such as software and methodologies, practitioner is a broad interpretation of the specialists in a projectized environment. My intent is to integrate many facets of the industry globally, and bring visibility to various issues as an interpretation of the situations from a professional practitioner perspective.

I have had the distinguished pleasure of spending time with many practitioners face to face on a worldwide basis, and it is my opinion that there are three core principles to success for each practitioner linked to the project/business industry:

Registration: This is a tactical, tacit form of recognition. Official connection to the industry.
Accreditation: Métier competencies, aptitude and strength of professional judgment.
Lifework: Progression of skills, responsibility and industry impact as well as contributions to the industry.

Future posts will have a dynamic mix of iterative thoughts (with limited examples) as well as fresh views that will initiate a new thread of ideas. The goal is to create an open source environment of the community of professional practitioners, grounded into the three principles mentioned above that nets group innovation and industry inflection points correlated directly to the actions and delivery of the professional practitioner.

Please join me in a journey where the only quantifiable element we know today is where we are at today. The future is predictable but predicated on our actions today. Let's evolve, change and shape the future together!

Posted at 10:11 AM by Tim Cermak | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

Tim Cermak: PM Practitioner Evangelist

Tim Cermak: PM Practitioner Evangelist

Tim Cermak

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