More on Project Management - Microsoft Project, specifically

Over the past year and a half, I've been deeply intrenched in using MS Project on a couple of projects for which I've been the designated scheduler. While this has been great experience, I've learned that Project can't do a whole lot of things that I expected of it. Rather than whine about it, I've written a number of macros using Visual Basic for Applications to help me out. I thought that I'd dedicate some postings to sharing some of the solutions I've developed. I'll try to keep my griping about Project to a minimum, but will describe what I am trying to accomplish and have found to be lacking as I describe my solution.

Project Management Professional (PMP)

I've been preparing for the Project Management Institute's PMP certification exam. Although I had scanned the PMBOK in the past, this preparation has forced me to do some deep thinking about the PM processes and related methodologies like the CMMI, Scrum, and Lean Six Sigma.

Since the PMP is industry neutral, I expected little attention to many of the processes I thought unique to software. My first discovery was that these processes (things like configuration management and requirements management) were heavily emphasized.

With the CMMI, if you do things straight out of the model, you're assured a successful SCAMPI appraisal. The PMP is different in several ways (besides of course that it's a personal certification):

1. There's no assurance that a complete mastery of the PMBOK will result in success on the exam. PMI expects PMPs will have a level of wisdom, experience, and judgment that goes well beyond the PMBOK, and warns that questions on the exam may derive from many other non-PMI sources.
2. The exam demands a deep understanding of, and experience in, project management. Many gray areas are covered that would thwart a novice PM or "poser".
3. Even after becoming certified, you can easily have your certification stripped. The PMI's standards of conduct require, beyond the usual ethical behavior, that members (i.e. PMPs) report to them a PMP who doesn't have the required experience or competence. And they put teeth in that: Awareness of, and failure to report to the PMI, can result in having your own certification stripped!

For me, it's the need for deep understanding that has driven me to a much more thoughtful review of the underlying principles of project management than ever before. This, in turn, has lead me to much richer development as a project manager than I ever expected. I understand much more of the interconnectedness of PM and project activities, and of the why behind them.

I've been a software process engineer for years, but preparing for this exam has caused me to see that models such as CMMI must be integrated with disciplined project management to really achieve it's goals. In fact, I would say that if a organization was weak in process, their first step should be to require all of their PMs to maintain a PMP certification. It's inevitable then that a focus on improvement will follow, and aforementioned methodologies I will achieve their potential, and be applied for the right reasons!

Lean, Six-Sigma, and so forth

I recently began training to become a Six Sigma Black Belt. The training also includes Lean topics ala Lean-Sigma. I'm pretty impressed with the potential here - though there's nothing really new to speak of.

The greatest benefit of Lean is that it draws attention to a common problem with process improvement initiatives, especially those driven by models such as CMMI and ISO 9000: the creation of onerous overhead that often offsets the gains. Lean looks for waste - and is severe in its definition - forcing careful consideration of everything that's done.

In fact, Lean captures some of the essence of Agile methods, inasmuch as these are an attempt to cut through the red tape and quickly produce a quality product. One could legitimately claim that Agile Methodology is a result of Lean thinking, whether or not the formal methods of Lean were used to derive it.

It's no paradox that the phrase "Lean and Agile" escapes the tongue with such ease, because the physical attributes represented by these metaphorical terms are naturally connected.