Define Your Needs For Technology

You can first identify your needs in international projects for technologies. To do this you first make a list of what you do in managing projects and the work involved. Make this list the first column in a table. The second column contains entries for what you do now to perform the functions in the first column. In the third column go the issues and problems with the current approach. New technologies of potential interest go in the fourth column. The last, or fifth, column contains statements of how the new technology resolves the issues and problems of the third column. An example is given in Fig. 6.2. Use this as a starting point for your own table.

Figure 6.2: Technology Evaluation Table

There are several benefits to this table. First, you show managers that you are organized. Second, the table can help identify areas where you really do need to investigate new technology. A third benefit is that it helps you narrow the focus in searching for technology. That is, you can largely ignore technologies that do not fit in any row of the table.

Where can you find out about new technologies? Check out the magazines and sources in the References appendix. What are you looking for? Articles that describe how a firm used the technology in its projects and what the benefits and lessons learned were. You can also visit vendor Web sites to see if there are new versions coming out.

Now let’s now consider a range of specific technologies that are useful in project management. Specific guidelines will be provided for using the technology effectively.

Guidelines For Communications And Networking

International project management is about global communications and networking. You need to be in touch with people in the various locations in which project work is being performed. These statements are obvious. Now look behind the lines at the fine print of requirements. Do you need extremely rapid communications? Sometimes. An example might be videoconferencing. But you don’t require it all of the time. So you don’t want to pay for capabilities that you will rarely use. It is better to rent or use someone else’s facilities.

Does the technology always have to be available? For some things such as defense or banking operations it does. For standard projects this is not necessary. Let’s consider an example. One of us managed a project using programmers in India. The location in India had very poor communications. Internet speeds were pathetic, but the Internet was available. How could the programmers be managed and the program code and programs reviewed? The solution was to sometimes use a delivery service for large files. At other times if someone was going to a city that had rapid Internet speeds, they took files with them and transmitted them. At other times for limited e-mail and other documents, the files could be compressed or zipped and then transmitted. The approach worked fine. This is an example of learning to live with what you have available. A basic guideline is:

The project cannot afford to invest in new technology for the project itself in most cases.

Not only is this guideline useful, but you have to consider the overall cost of the technology. Figure 6.3 gives a list of cost factors to consider. Note in this table the phrase “supporting technologies.” Most technologies do not come in alone. They require some technological infrastructure or related products. Vendors push this since they want to sell you a range of products.

Figure 6.3: Examples of Cost Factors in Using a Technology

How do you use communications and networks in project management? Consider creating a table such as that in Fig. 6.4.

Figure 6.4: Types of Communications in International Project Management

Here are some guidelines for communications and networking.

• In countries where there is a modern infrastructure, use what the people in the location are already working with. It is too difficult to teach old dogs new tricks.

• In locations where there is a lack of infrastructure and technology, then each place will have to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

• Instead of investing in more technology, try to think of ways to work smarter. Plan when to communicate. Develop outlines and forms to shorten the communications.

• Define how to communicate as an issue at the start of the international project and have team members explore in their locations the cheapest and easiest way to communicate with you and each other. In one case, the simplest and cheapest was to buy someone a coffee at an Internet café.

• Accept the fact that in a wide-ranging international project, there will have to be more than one standard communications solution.

Guidelines For Software Tools

Project management relies on a variety of software tools that run on top of the networks. These include e-mail, electronic forms, groupware, database management, videoconferencing, and project management software. Before plunging into each category for specific guidelines, it is useful to review some basic rules first.

• Your budget in the project for tools or new methods will be very limited. At the most, you might be able to acquire some hardware and software licenses. That is about it. Therefore, there is no use in doing a big survey of technologies available.

• If you are considering software tools for the entire organization and all of its projects, then you want to develop the portfolio approach that was discussed at the start of the chapter with Fig. 6.2.

• It will be difficult to get all of the software from one vendor. While Microsoft can fit the widest range of needs in project management, there will still likely be other tools that will come from different vendors.

• Consider the life cycle cost of the software tool in terms of training, upgrades, and support as well as acquisition.

For any software tool that you have or that you select, there will be a substantial effort needed to have the software tool usefully and consistently employed. Notice the word consistent. If you deploy any software tool in a variety of locations, you have to assume that people will tend to use it in different and inconsistent ways. The only way that you can discourage this is to provide guidance at the start of the use of the tool so that the people see consistency in their self-interest. Figure 6.5 describes the actions needed to successfully implement a software tool. As you can see from the effort behind the items in the list, you should embark upon a new software tool with trepidation.

Figure 6.5: Actions Necessary in Implementing a Software Tool

You can employ Fig. 6.6 as a table to summarize your use of software tools. You should prepare this table and review it with all locations and any vendors or consultants that you are employing. The table is also useful as a handy reference by employees to show them that there is an organized approach. Having the table can discourage people from going out on their own to find tools that duplicate the functions that you already have. The columns are described as follows:

Figure 6.6: Method and Tool Table

Information Sharing

• Avoid using e-mail for any sensitive topics.

• Assume that everyone in the company will read your e-mails.

• Think about what medium to use for communications before you resort to e-mail.

• Compose an e-mail and then save it in a temporary folder. Review it after a few hours to check the tone and determine if it is complete. Then you can send it.

• Make sure that the title of the e-mail is either very specific or very general. Experience has shown that titles in between result in e-mails being discarded.

• When you open an e-mail in most e-mail systems, you only can read the first 6–8 lines of the e-mail. Many people, especially busy people, read this amount and decide whether to trash the message or read it. Make sure that you get your point across.

• Avoid using e-mail for people in the same room or floor of a building. It is ridiculous to not just walk over to them and socialize rather than resorting to e-mail.

• Be sensitive to the fact that people get many e-mail messages. In one seminar we gave in the first two hours, the average attendee had received 50 (yes, fifty) e-mails. Talk about information overload!

• Maintain a copy of any important e-mail so that you can remember what you said.

• Avoid using e-mail to discuss an issue in any depth. E-mail was never intended to be used as groupware.

• Organize your e-mail into folders that are appropriate for use in project management. You might create a folder for each major subproject, for personnel matters, for budget matters, for project status, etc.

• Have each team member establish an e-mail account outside of the company. Why do this? Because you may find that you cannot access your e-mail in the company from a remote location. You also may find that firewalls inhibit remote access. Make sure that the team members are told that this e-mail account is to be used for the project only. If they want to use e-mail for personal use, they can set another free e-mail account. Pay for additional storage of messages. Encourage team members to periodically go in and clean up the e-mail account so that it is efficiently and effectively used.

Project Management Software

The most popular PC-based project management software is Microsoft Project. However, the guidelines that will be provided here apply to similar software from other vendors. Some specific guidelines are given in Fig. 6.7. You can find more detailed guidelines in the book, Breakthrough Technology Project Management, second ed., by the same authors.

Figure 6.7: Some Guidelines for Using Project Management Software

There are some basic problems with most of the existing project management software packages. First, they were initially designed for use by single users. Hooks have been provided for collaboration, but at the heart they are still single-user-oriented systems. Project management in modern international projects is a collaborative widespread activity. Thus, the most suitable project management tools would be based on the Internet and would employ a Web browser.

A second problem is that the existing software allows either total read-only or read–write access at the file level. If you are going to do collaborative project management, team members have to update their own individual tasks within the project plan. Therefore, they require write access to only specific tasks.

A third disadvantage is that many of the software tools have excessive features. Some of the features that should be discouraged are:

Collaborative Tools

Use The Internet And Web

Obviously, most of the team members are already well versed in using the Web and Internet. How can you employ this technology for international projects? The first way is for e-mail and was discussed earlier. Another use of the Web is to explore literature and magazines for project management lessons learned and issues (see the References listed in Appendix 3). You can also use the Internet to view the Web sites of vendors and products that apply to the project. Another application is to check up on what competitors are doing and what they see as important.

How Technology Creates Benefits And Problems

Technology can provide many benefits if you believe the specific vendor claims. Stripping off the claims, let’s get down to reality. Here are some of the benefits that have been experienced in projects from using technology and in particular software tools. Note that getting these benefits assumes that you have followed the actions in Fig. 6.5.

• A technology can enforce company rules and policies by encouraging a specific way of doing things.

• Use of a technology across an organization can be self-sustaining, requiring little enforcement for the use of the tool.

• Widespread use of a technology encourages consistency.

• Use of a technology can encourage collaboration and information sharing that would be otherwise difficult or impossible.

• Use of the technology can reduce the cost and effort of performing the activity as compared to what it replaced.

• A technology or tool can reduce the time it takes to make decisions and may support better decisions by providing better quality and more timely information.

A number of problems have already been identified with tools and technology. Here let’s examine the following list:

• A software tool is acquired, but not properly supported so that it languishes and is only used by a few people.

• The software tool is easy to learn at a basic level, but difficult and complex to master in detail.

• While the tool can be used by one person, it is really not suitable for use in a collaborative environment.

• The tool was selected too soon. Now there are better tools available from different vendors. The employees think that they are stuck with a lemon. Remember what happened with companies who stuck with old word processing tools for too long?

• The functions of the tool overlap with those of other tools in use so that redundant effort is needed in data entry and use—reducing the extent of usage of the tool.

To put it all together, Fig. 6.8 provides a score card for your use. We suggest that you apply this to your current software tools.

Figure 6.8: Score Card for Technology and Tools

Examples

Sambac Energy

Each company that participated in Sambac had their own technologies and tools. In most cases, the two firms had (by chance) chosen the same tools. However, the e-mail systems were different. This created many problems in interfaces. Custom interfaces were created by each company to share the e-mail messages. It was not effective since the software changed with new versions.

In this difficult situation, the approach was taken at Sambac to use Yahoo Mail. Yahoo is one of the most widely used free e-mail systems. This worked out quite well. Even today, the same solution is being used. The internal politics and bickering were avoided.

Whitmore Bank

Whitmore deployed new offices into a region. Each office had its own unique issues. However, with the use of templates, issues, and lessons learned in groupware, the implementation period was reduced by 30% as later offices learned from experiences of the earlier offices.

Lessons Learned

• The functions versus technology table in Fig. 6.2 is useful with vendors in that you can establish a common set of technologies that you will employ in an international project. This will minimize incompatibilities.

• Resist acquiring new technology tools that promise to do many functions. Often, they represent overkill in use except in very large projects.

• Review your methods and tools on an annual basis to see what is new and if people are using the current methods and tools effectively.

• Gather lessons learned on the use of the technology during the projects as part of the project. Make sure that this experience is shared with people in other projects.

• Exercises

  1. Try to use the Web to find what is available in project management software that is Internet based.

  2. On the Web sign up at two sites that are very useful for project management—www.gantthead.com and www.techrepublic.com. These sites have many useful tips for using project management software and for project management.

  3. Use the table of methods and tools to determine where the gaps are in the methods and tools that you are using now.

  4. Apply the score card for the software tools to the tools that you are using now.

  5. Summary

     A key idea in this chapter has been that it is not how much technology you employ in international projects; it is that you employ the minimal number of tools in an effective and efficient manner. Always, concentrate on the tangible benefits of the tools. Do they save you time? Do they produce better results? Avoid the “wiz-bang” features of the technology. And remember the learning curve. If you have to take the time to learn some new technology, that time will have to come from somewhere—likely from areas that need more of your attention