Where the Rubber Meets the Road Do you study Project Management theory from one source, and then study how to implement it using a different medium, perhaps a tool based class? Have you ever wondered why the theory is not taught within the tools class, or the reverse? In this discussion, we attempt to link theory to practical implementation. We will explore actual tool implementations that will enable you, as the Project Manager to give confidence to your customer that you are ahead of the game. Let’s move from being a “status reporter” to solving problems before the customer even knew one existed.

1. WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD
Nicholas Errico, PMP, PgMP
Nicholas.James.Errico@GMail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholaserrico/
THEORY AND TOOLS FOR SCHEDULE MANAGEMENT
IN A
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ORGANIZATION

2. WHO AM I?
• In the Professional Services Industry for 20 years
• Services Delivery: Project Manager, Program Manager
• PMP, PgMP Credentialed
• Services Roles - Sales, Business Development, Product Management
• I am still learning
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3. DISCUSSION POINTS
• Disclaimers
• What is success?
• Are you a psychic?
• “Black Box” Project Management
• The Project Schedule Model
• Typical Business and Model Questions
• The Mechanics
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4. DISCLAIMERS
• There is always more than one way to solve any problem
• The Project Schedule is ONE of MANY tools needed
• This material is not applicable to ALL situations
• Keep this in mind, and grab bits and pieces for everyday use
• We are all learning, including myself
• Please ask questions as they arise, questions keep the presentation
lively!
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5. • Customer received what they expected, when they expected
• Project delivery helps future services deals, not hurts it
• Project delivery organization was easy to work with
• Customer paid what they expected
• Delivery organization made the profits expected
• Both service provider and customer want to do business again
Success is NOT by accident
WHAT IS SUCCESS?
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6. ARE YOU A PSYCHIC?
What happened yesterday?Can you foresee the future?Graceful management
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7. “BLACK BOX” PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• 80% of managing a project is technology “agnostic”
• Create a Lead Architect role if one does not exist to handle the 20%
• Managing organized change – process is key
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8. “BLACK BOX” PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• Why do we need this task?
• What is needed to start?
• What needs this to begin?
• How will this be delivered?
• Who will be responsible?
• When will we need the output?
• Where will we need the output?
• What is the expected task duration?
Initial Questions 
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9. “BLACK BOX” PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• Is this on the critical path?
• What could go wrong?
• What can we do to lower the risk?
• Is there a resource risk?
• Have we done this before?
• Is there value in speeding this up?
Proactive Questions 
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10. THE PROJECT SCHEDULE MODEL
• It doesn’t have to be in Microsoft Project…
• It can’t be in Excel, Word, or PowerPoint…
• A schedule is NOT a list of tasks
• Relationships are key to schedule models
• What QUESTIONS should your model answer?
• What MECHANICS are needed in the model?
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11. TYPICAL BUSINESS QUESTIONS
• How does this project fit within the customer strategy?
• What does the future state look like for the customer?
• Will this project deliver the expected results?
• Why should we perform this work?
• What will happen if we don’t perform this project?
• What does success look like to the company and the customer?
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12. TYPICAL MODEL QUESTIONS
• What key dates does the customer desire and why?
• When are all my contractual deliverables to be realized?
• Am I likely to finish on time, on budget?
• What if I am late with a task?
• What should the team be focused on?
• What has been completed?
• When do I bill the customer?
• Is my schedule accurate?
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13. TYPICAL MODEL QUESTIONS
Without a MAP you will never get from Point A to Point
B
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14. WHAT DOES THE PROJECT LOOK LIKE?
• End to End
• Big Picture
• Every contractual deliverable should
be contained with plan
• Project Flow
• Did we capture everything?
• Do the dates look accurate?
• Is this doable?
• Plan the work, work the plan!
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15. • Top line – Design or One Time
Events
• Below line – “Site Specific” Events
WHAT DOES THE PROJECT LOOK LIKE?
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16. • What tasks make up each grouping?
WHAT DOES THE PROJECT LOOK LIKE?
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17. HOW IS EACH LOCATION PROGRESSING?
• Match Work Grouping to Management
Control Areas
• Standard Milestones per Site
• Standardization allows for later
Program Rollup
• Enable Exception Management
• % Complete rollup – use 0%, 50%,
100%
• S/F Status – Is my Schedule being
managed?
• Baseline Status – Am I hitting dates the
customer asked for?
• Slack – may need to use deadlines to
force multiple site critical paths
• One Owner and One Resource 17 of 28

18. AM I LIKELY TO FINISH ON TIME?
• Understand the Critical Path
• Understand what tasks have a direct
impact on the end date
• Not all tasks are created equal
• Can also perform Monte Carlo
Analysis
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19. WHAT SHOULD THE TEAM BE FOCUSED ON?
• 14 / 30 Day Outlook by
• Resource, Site, State, Company
• By Resource drives ONE team
• By Company can help support the
“we depend upon the customer’s
activities”
• Groupings can be a “To-Do” list for
sub-organizations
• One resource per task, no more than
a week work effort
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20. WHEN DO I BILL THE CUSTOMER?
• When do I get paid?
• Align project billing events with
milestone completion criteria
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21. WHAT HAS BEEN COMPLETED?
• Sometimes the good needs to be
emphasized
• What have you done for me lately?
• Shows actual versus baseline dates
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22. DATA INPUT AND WHAT IF ANALYSIS?
• Data Input with all task attributes
• Used for joint project modeling and
what if discussions
• Moves the conversation from “do this
sooner” to “what do we as a team
need to do to pull in date x”
• Used for Baseline data input, to lay
the idea that what you want, and
where the project are headed are two
different ideals
• Realignment of desired and
projected dates
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23. WAS MY SCHEDULE CREATED PROPERLY
• Quality Assurance on Project
Schedule
• Does every task have an Owner?
• Does every task have a Site
assigned?
• Does every task have a Resource?
• Does every task have a State
assigned?
• Does every task have a Predecessor
or Successor?
• Does NOT ensure a perfect project
schedule
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24. IS MY SCHEDULE BEING MAINTAINED?
• Are all tasks being updated?
• Issue: Have you started work or not?
• Start date has passed and 0%
Progress made
• Issue: Have you finished work or
not?
• Finish date has passed and task is
not 100% complete
• Possible Solutions
• Start date needs to be pushed out
• Increase duration to move end date
out
Or
• Update the percentage complete
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25. THE MECHANICS
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26. Reports
View 1
Table 1 Table 2 Table 3
Filter 1 Filter 2
Business
Question
1
Field 1
Field 2
Business
Question
2
View 2
View 3
Business
Question
3 Field 3
Group1 Group 2
THE MECHANICS
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27. • R/Y/G - Status (Start/Finish)– to determine if Project Schedule is up to
date
• R/Y/G – Status (Base/Current) – Compares baseline finish and expected
finish
• Site – Can be any task grouping
• State – Can be any task grouping
• Stage, Survey, Install, Decom – for specific site milestone tracking
• Owner – to assign tasks to GDT/Cisco/Customer
TYPICAL CUSTOM FIELDS
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28. • Project delivery helps future services deals, not hurts it
• Solve problems BEFORE they occur
• Predict the future, and change paths if needed
• Project Management is NOT about being a great firefighter
• Task relationships are key
FINAL THOUGHTS?
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29. D e s i g n I T . B u i l d I T . D e l i v e r I T .
Nicholas Errico, PMP, PgMP
Nicholas.James.Errico@GMail.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholaserrico/
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Success is NOT by accident