A first day read for Project Managers starting at Confiz. Buckle up!

1. PROJECT MANAGEMENT @ CONFIZ
your appetizer for first day
www.confiz.com

2. We are excited to have you as a PM!
At Confiz you will have the opportunity to not
only manage projects but also inspire and lead
talented teams of engineers

3. Project Management is a mindset to think and
act in a process, but it is also a mindset to be
creative and pursue success with out-of-box
solutions

4. This presentation is a starter and it does not aim
to make you a master, rather gives you a flavor
of various exciting Project Management skillset

5. Confiz’s Four ‘P’s of Project Management
Project
Policy People
Profit

6. Useful Resources
• Confiz PMO Wiki
- Click ‘Sites’ from your Confiz Google account and search ‘pmo’
• Confiz HR Wiki
- Similarly, in your Confiz sites
• Mountain Goat Software
- http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/

7. The 1st ‘P’
Project
Policy People
Profit

8. Project Dimensions
• You should be familiar with various project dimensions:
- Client
- Product (refers to Software we build for client)
- Time
- Technology
- Risk
- Process

9. Managing Client
• The best win from client is winning their trust
• A PM can win client’s trust in many ways:
- Collaborating with client to clearly define the Product
- No hesitation in communication via Skype voice (video is even
better)
- Explaining the plan and sharing any concerns on time
- Produce a shared sense of ownership of work done

10. Managing Time
• Under estimating a project is as bad as over estimating
- Estimates can be revised with other PMs’ or Senior Engineers’ help
• A high-level plan at project start using Microsoft Project or
Open Project helps paint a roadmap
• Sprint planning meetings bubble up delays, they should
be frequent i.e. every 2-3 weeks
• Once a delay is identified, it should be communicated with
appropriate reasons

11. Managing Product
• Assumptions and lack of clarity kills a product
• A PM must not compromise on clear understanding and
communication of product features
• In Agile, product evolves in Sprints, but each Sprint features
should have clarity
• Wireframes, Functional specs, diagrams, JIRA/Redmine tickets
all bring clarity to product
• Understand the context of product you are building, its
business value and how it fits in real life. Then set the same
context for your team. You will find much more productivity

12. Managing Technology
• A doctor can run a hospital better than a non-doctor
• Similarly a technically savvy project manager can run a
Software team better than a non-savvy one
• Be always keen to increase your technical knowledge
related to your projects. You will be a winner
• Its as simple as that!

13. Good project managers think ahead of time and
mitigate risks
Three categories of project risks:
• 1) Technology Risks
- Lack of experience with a technology
- Amateur technologies or frameworks
• 2) People Risks
- People planning for a job switch
- Upcoming resourcing needs
• 3) Client Risks
- Clients can be non-cooperative
- Some clients needs constant communication on progress and issues

14. How are risks mitigated?
• Risks are mitigated using simple tools:
- Communication
- Intelligently and on-time raising a flag
- Reaching out to your Engagement Manager
- Re-thinking your timeline
- Re-structuring your team

15. Managing Software Development Process
• At Confiz we like the SCRUM (Agile) process
• In SCRUM a product evolves in clearly defined Sprints via
managing a feature Backlog
• SCRUM has different roles, PMs generally are SCRUM
Masters
- Run daily SCRUM meeting
- Lead Sprint planning and retrospective meetings
- Maintain tickets on JIRA/Redmine

16. Managing Process - SCRUM

17. get some coffee! more slides to come…

18. The 2nd ‘P’
Project
Policy People
Profit

19. Managing People
• A critical yet mostly ignored aspect of project
management
• A strong people manager has higher chances of success
as a project manager
• We will discuss people management in two aspects:
- Managing individuals
- Managing teams

20. Managing Individuals
• Human, by nature, performs so much better in an
encouraging environment
• You will never find the ‘perfect’ one so take pleasure in
grooming people in their weaker side, let it be technical,
personal or organizational
• Never criticize anyone in public but praise people
appropriately in public

21. Managing Teams
• Build the right team that has
- A balance of experience in technology and skillset
- Hardworking and motivated individuals
- Understanding of the context of product they are building
• Remember ‘B’ players create ‘C’ level teams
• You should operate your team like a sports car engine
- It should push hard when needed
- But it should also get time to cool down and relax

22. Integrated Team Culture
• Tightly integrated teams thrive and dis-integrated teams fail
• Encourage your engineers to study and analyze product they
are building and its competition. This will improve their
engineering approach as well
• The right team culture encourages engineers and non-
engineers to cooperate respectfully
• Appreciate an engineer adding product management value and
vice-versa
• At the end, your team will succeed together and not individually

23. Becoming a program manager is about learning:
learning about technology, learning about people, and
learning how to be effective in a political organization. A
good program manager combines an engineer’s
approach to designing technology with a politician’s
ability to build consensus and bring people together
-Founder of StackOverFlow.com

24. The 3rd ‘P’
Project
Policy People
Profit

25. Managing Policy
• Policies are defined not to kill creativity or initiative
• Policies define a operating framework for you and your
project
• Policies ensure uniform treatment of engineers across
projects

26. Some policies you should understand
• All policies are defined on HR Wiki (under your Confiz
sites)
• Important policies
- Leave policy
- Review and performance appraisal policies
- Work during holiday policies

27. The 4th ‘P’
Project
Policy People
Profit

28. Managing the ‘Profit’
• Two billing models at Confiz
- Time and Materials
- Fixed Cost
• Time and Materials
- A group of engineers is outsourced and client is charged on work units,
hours or month
- Suits a project where requirements are fully clear the first day
- Generally this model carry less risk for us
• Fixed Cost
- Client is given a total cost figure based on initial requirements
- Requires a lot of clarity on what the product is so effort estimate is
accurate
- Needs a closer eye on all project progress to stay profitable

29. More things on Managing Profit
• You will participate directly in business development via:
• New project lead estimates
- Helps create new business and enter new business verticals
- Good estimates are not undone or overdone
- More details present on Confiz PMO Wiki
• Client Satisfactions
- Creating un-asked solution presentations, documentation, planning
makes client happy
- Build a relationship with a client and earn their trust, they will make
us profitable

30. Happy ‘PMing’!
For questions, NEVER hesitate to ask your
Engagement Manager or anyone you like