As the project manager I had to keep track of the schedule per- formance index and cost performance index for every task group.
I presented these two important schedule performance and cost performance indices to upper management every two weeks or at most every four weeks. Schedule performance indices were eas- ier to calculate because input to work completion estimates were determined by me and task groups. However, it was very difficult to obtain input for cost performance indices.
I had to chase our accounting department every month in order to be able to collect all costs charged to my project’s charge numbers. The accounting department was always late in getting all charges collected. They also made unthinkable mistakes. I saw many charges from unrelated company personnel to my project. I saw several equipment costs charged to my project by mistake or knowingly. At the end of every fiscal month, defined as four weeks, four weeks, and five weeks, I had to get these erroneous charges cleaned up before I could determine the actual cost of the work performed by every task group of my project.
I expressed my concerns about delays and errors occurring in the accounting department to my manager. My manager set up a meeting with the chief financial officer. During the meeting, I voiced my concerns with examples. I emphasized that my project was a very dynamic one with a tight budget. I had to know the charges made to my project’s charge numbers, 14 of them, at most within a week from the end of the fiscal month. I asked them to allow me to sit down with the accounting department’s personnel at the end of every fiscal month to go over all the charges made to my project’s account numbers. The chief financial officer agreed to my requests and promised to improve cost reporting delays and errors.
One month passed yet the situation with cost accounting did not improve. Two months passed and it was the same old story. I had to get my project’s cost accounting fixed. I, myself, made an appointment with the chief executive officer of the company and laid in front of him the details of our company’s cost accounting delays and errors. He told me that he was aware of the slow pace of our accounting department in preparing the fiscal monthly cost report. I told him that I could not fulfill my project management duties in a timely manner and take the necessary steps to correct for cost overruns at this tempo. He promised me that he would discuss the accounting department issues with the chief financial officer immediately and they would make the necessary improve- ments to enhance the company’s cost account speed and error rate.
At the end of the next fiscal month, the cost report came out in two days. There was one error in my project’s cost report. I was so happy. I sent thank you e- mails to our chief financial officer and copied our chief executive officer and my manager. I was able to get the actual cost of work performed within two days after every fiscal month. I was able to balance my under budget task groups with over budget task groups and determine what actions to take to improve my project’s cost estimates to completion. More often than not, my projects overran the budgeted cost of work. Then I had to present the overrun reasons to my upper management and get their okay to dip into my project’s contingency funds or dip into the company’s company margin.
There was another major issue with the project cost account- ing, which was the timely submission of travel expense reports. My team members filed their expense reports within a week of their return to home base. However, some manufacturing depart- ment engineers and some quality department engineers submitted their trip expense reports one to six months late. I had to nudge every one of them and their managers to get their trip expense reports filed with the accounting department in a timely fashion. Finally, I got tired of nudging them and took the trip expense report timely filing issue to my upper management. After a couple of discussions with upper management, it became a requirement in the company for everyone to submit their trip expense reports within one week of their arrival to home base.
Monitoring schedule and cost performances of a project very closely at regular intervals is a must for a project manager. You have to bring your company’s other departments in sync with your project’s dynamic environment. The challenge is to be able to col- lect all schedule and cost performance data in a timely fashion from your foreign project partners.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS PROJECT EVENT
• Your project’s cost performance can be hampered by your finance department’s delays and errors.
• A trip expense report for a project should be filed and approved within a week of completion.
151
6
Case studies
in
te aM ManageMent
Every team member of your project has a different personality and behavior. You are a mentor, a role model, and a psychologist to all your team members.
Stability in the lives of the project team’s members helps tremen- dously to run a project smoothly. I had to help a troubled team mem- ber straighten out his family issues as outlined in Case 6.1.
A senior scientist’s adverse behavior affected my team’s morale and started to hamper the progress of my project. I had to take serious steps to bring him in line so that my project could progress smoothly. Case 6.2 outlines the steps that I had to take in order to bring har- mony into my project team.
Errors are part of real life in engineering projects. They can happen in design, in a customer’s specifications, in manufacturing, in qual- ity control, in receiving inspections, at subcontractors, at certification laboratories, and so on. The key is to catch them in a timely fashion. Hopefully, the error will only cause a minor distraction to the proj- ect. If everyone involved with the project can learn from the mistake made, you will be making a big contribution to your company as a project manager. Such an encounter is detailed in Case 6.3.
To execute a project in a foreign country can be very challenging. It helps a lot in the progress and success of your project if you and your team members are immersed in the foreign country’s traditions and language. In Case 6.4, my team had to be trained on the ins and outs of Japanese business culture and business language.
In one of my projects, a senior engineer on my team decided to take a three- month sabbatical leave from the company right in the middle of the project. He was a crucial member of my team. These kinds of unexpected situations can arise in any project. As the project manager,
my task was to find a remedy to this crisis fast without hampering the progress of my project as described in Case 6.5.
Traveling to foreign countries for a job can be very strenuous. It requires detailed preparation. Passport issues, visa issues, money issues, security issues, language differences, hotels, transportation, and foreign contacts all have to be dealt with in utmost detail and accuracy ahead of a trip. As project managers, it is our responsibility to make sure that all the i’s are dotted and all the t’s are crossed before a foreign trip is made as shown in Case 6.6.
Nonperforming and/ or underperforming team members are always an issue during the life of a project. Keeping them on the team or getting rid of them has to be weighed very carefully. Risk analysis of your actions has to be thought out in utmost detail. The effects of an underperforming team member can be very destructive in a dynamic team environment. Such a situation is detailed in Case 6.7.
One of the important tasks of a project manager is to attend special ceremonies involving your team members. These ceremonies can be birthday parties, weddings, patent presentation banquets, technical society presentations, and so forth. As a team leader one of your main functions is to participate in your team member’s celebration events. Such an international event is detailed in Case 6.8.
A work environment should be like a second family environment away from home. Every employee should be able to talk and express his or her issues and concerns to their managers, upper manage- ment, and/ or to human resources without any reservations or fears. These issues and concerns can be personal ones, work- related ones, or community- related ones. As managers, our responsibility is to help every employee as much as we can to make them feel that they are always under our company’s family umbrella as described in Case 6.9.
In a project environment, during the course of events, several unexpected sacrifices can come from any one of your team members. Sometimes these sacrifices can come from people outside of your team. As the project manager, you have to recognize and appreciate these kinds of above and beyond duties. Such an example is detailed in Case 6.10.
I have seen many project teams go through a honeymoon period at the beginning or at the middle of a project throughout my career. As project managers, we have to watch for slacking signs from every team
member and take the necessary action to keep the pressure cooker at a constant stress level. An unfortunate slacking period is detailed in Case 6.11.
When a good employee who helped you a lot in your project is leav- ing the company, you have to provide a memorable farewell to him or her. I managed to give a great farewell party to my senior mechanical tool designer when expenses were very restricted in my company as detailed in Case 6.12.
As I gained experience in project management, I only made prom- ises that I could keep to my team members. I researched thoroughly beforehand, if I could keep my promise. When I gave a time frame for a promise, I always accomplished it within that time frame as depicted in Case 6.13.
Several unexpected events can occur during the course of a project. Some project managers get upset and blow their tops, but this type of behavior does not solve anything. Negative reactions make things worse. You have to be coolheaded, versatile, and firm to find other solutions fast in order to bring the difficult situation at hand under control as shown in Case 6.14.
As project managers, we have to sometimes act as psychologists. We should not take drastic actions on a whim or with a burst of anger. We have to consider all repercussions that an immediate action might cause in our project as shown in Case 6.15.
Specialists and/ or scientists can be very moody and demanding in a team environment. As a project manager, you need their expertise. You have to treat them with respect. You have to create a flexible boundary with their needs and with your project’s requirements. If you become a hard- liner with such people, your project will suffer in the end as shown in Case 6.16.
A project’s work atmosphere can be very different after a personal vacation or after holidays. As project managers, we have to settle down anxiety or lackadaisical behavior after such events as detailed in Case 6.17.
Maternity leave can be very disrupting to a project’s progress. As project managers, we have to work with our human resources depart- ment in order to make the right decisions and appropriate arrange- ments to solve the issues at hand as detailed in Case 6.18.
As project managers, we have to encourage and empower our team members constantly to make improvement suggestions to their tasks. Such improvement suggestions can come from unexpected sources. We have to praise and reward contributing suggestions to our project as detailed in Case 6.19.
Efficiently run meetings are the backbone of a project. Meetings have to be standardized and managed properly so that team members’ precious time is not wasted. A team member should not be bored and he or she should contribute constructively while present during a proj- ect meeting. Especially in large team groups, as it was in Case 6.20, breaking up a meeting into smaller subgroups can be very effective.
Mishaps happen more often than not while preparing for critical meetings or deadlines in a project. Overworked and overtired team members become prone to mistakes and accidents. As project manag- ers, we have to watch over our team members and over ourselves for fatigue and for burnout conditions as detailed in Case 6.21.
Case 6.1: Getting a Senior Wafer Fabrication