Ask the Guru

Office Design Trends

March 18, 2019 by miladmin

OFFICE DESIGN TRENDS AND TENANT STRATEGIES

Francina Price, President of Champions IFM, and Michael Bull with Bull Realty discuss office facility trends to attract and retain talent, develop your brand, and lower costs.

Project Management Guru: Communication

September 14, 2018 by miladmin

Project Management Guru

prepared by Francina J. Price, PMP, MBA

Guru: An influential teacher or popular expert.

THESE ARTICLES WILL BE USED TO SHARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS AND INSIGHT OBTAINED THROUGH FIELD EXPERIENCE.

Starting with the end in mind, we continue the focus of our first tip…Lessons Learned. This process is critical and insightful. It deserves a fresh look with eyes of sincere appreciation. Here in lies the secrets to my success…

COMMUNICATION IS A CRITICAL PATH

"Effective teamwork begins and ends with effective communication."

Mike Krzyewski

Project Managers must be effective communicators. Each project requires a detailed communications plan and a thorough understanding of the leading mode of communication for each team member. As a PM, devising a platform that enables clear and consistent information to be shared across the project easily, empowers each member of the team. More than 80% of a Project Manager’s time is spent communicating.

Lessons Learned for Managing Change Management Projects:

Once I received a Project that had been started from another Project Manager. It only had a few months left until it was scheduled to close. I never questioned the Communications Plan or Methods of the team. I realized that no one was answering emails timely, nor sending updates, and the project was significantly behind. Additionally, there was missing scope and the team never really met or had regularly scheduled meetings to share information. Everyone was working independently. Immediately, I began to try and save the project but realized that there was so much missing data that it would be impossible. This project could have been successful if an effective Communications Plan and Strategy was shared; it cost the company 9 months of time and money.

After investigation, the previous Project Manager never reached out to the assigned team members, nor did the team members contact the PM. Several gaps in SOW was not obtained and the project was put together piece meal. The Project Manager felt like he understood the requirements so he wrote the SOW without team input.

Tips for other PMP’s:

Establish rapport with each member early on in the project, this will lead to ensuring that there is no missed information that could be critical to the success of the project.
Value each members knowledge base. They were placed on the team for a reason.
Ask the question: Which is the best mode of communication for you? Simply understanding if it’s email, text, phone or face to face is best the way to gain information needed to move the project along. This will save a PM time and reduce the risk in the project.
Develop a Communications Plan so that each member understands how, what and when information is to be shared.

Reflective Thought?

Can you share a story where lack of communication jeopardized the entire project or perhaps a part of the project? What are ways you can improve your Communications Plan or style?

We would like to hear from you, what other tips would you incorporate?

Thank you to Monteau Outlaw for sharing her insights on communication.

Project Management Guru: Ask the Guru – Design Process Gone Wild

July 6, 2018 by miladmin

PROJECT MANAGEMENT GURU

prepared by Francina Price, PMP, MBA

Guru: An influential teacher or popular expert.

THESE ARTICLES WILL BE USED TO SHARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS AND INSIGHT OBTAINED THROUGH FIELD EXPERIENCE.

DESIGN PROCESS GONE WILD A critical area to evaluate on each project is the Design Process. How well did the team translate the requirements of the client? Did the client sabotage the design process? Did you have to “expedite” the schedule?

Lessons learned for managing design projects:

Skipping the actual process of design (schematic design/design development) – when this has occurred the client rushes through decisions and ends up not thinking about the what has been presented and may or may not like the end results. Ending up living with a space that they do not like or mistakes have been made. The other result is a mismatch of color coordination and material coordination. Make sure there is always time in the schedule to work through these details and present them to the client for decision making.
Coordination between vendors – this occurs often in the design process and sometimes too late. Coordination and implementation of furniture, art and audio visual vendors needs to occur during the design development process not during the time of completing construction documents. Too often these decisions are made while the project is in for permit or worst yet while under construction. If that happens lighting, electrical and other construction items are not captured in the documents and added costs or delays will occur on the job. Make sure there is an early kick off meeting with ALL vendors during design development so these coordination items can occur.

Tips for other PMP’s:

Coordination meeting held 25% through the design development process.
Understand the process of design so that schedule and coordination are appropriately thought through.

Space planning/test fits.
Schematic design (initial aesthetics of the space and concepts).
Design development (refinement of the design and working through details for areas in addition to coordination).
Construction Documents (creation and full coordination with the vendors under the designers/architects contract. TIP – make sure the designer/architect is under contract with the client to coordinate all vendors – i.e. audio/visual, furniture, art/signage, etc).
Construction Administration.

Reflective Thought?

Do you see steps that you’ve sacrificed or missed due to schedule compression? How can you incorporate “collapsed check points” to ensure that quality and requirements are not missed?

We would like to hear from you, what other tips would you incorporate?

Thank you Julie McCullough for sharing tips and insight on the design process.

Project Management Guru: Ask the Guru – Lessons Learned

May 21, 2018 by miladmin

PROJECT MANAGEMENT GURU

prepared by Francina Price, PMP, MBA

Guru: An influential teacher or popular expert.

THESE ARTICLES WILL BE USED TO SHARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIPS AND INSIGHT OBTAINED THROUGH FIELD EXPERIENCE.

Starting with the end in mind, is the focus of our first tip…Lessons Learned. This process is critical and insightful. It deserves a fresh look with eyes of sincere appreciation. Here in lies the secret to my success.

A PM must find a way to conduct these sessions seeking for new wisdom and strategy.

Take a moment and review the simple steps identified and you will see how this simple wisdom could be the knowledge you need to move your projects from good to great. Simply listening to people reveals many hidden treasures and you quickly come to understand that this one process is “Your” treasure chest.

There must be a database to house all the valuable information that can assist you with successfully planning the next project. In my experience, most PM’s skip over this very vital step in Close Out risking no improvement in their overall project delivery and style.

Reflective Thought?

Seriously reflect on what past projects can teach you about teams, communication styles, project schedule, escalation process and overall gaps? Lessons Learned database is a global teacher, allowing understanding as to why things worked or didn’t work so well on past projects.

How likely are you to complete Lessons Learned on your next project? Leave your comments and thoughts.