Posts Tagged ‘project manager’
|The Project Manager’s Role as Client Educator/Mentor
Thursday, December 29th, 2011
By Phillip Infelise, Chairman
In this 15th edition (have we really been tuning in for two years now?) I want to discuss a critical and expanding role of the Project Manager that is rarely articulated – that of Educator and Mentor to our clients (and other project team members) while steering them through the project processes.
In many cases the client is engaging an outside Project Manager very simply because there is no internal expertise or practical experience to execute such a project. Consequently, we are relied upon to articulate, explain, educate, mentor and provide additional perspective to the client throughout the process. In a very circuitous way our intent is to elevate the game of our principal client contact to the point that they could manage any subsequent projects without our day-to-day assistance (but may still rely upon us for item-specific expertise). Yes, I know that can mean educating ourselves out of future work, but that is our way of “doing the right thing.” Examples of this result abound among our clients new and old.
It is always important to start the education process off on the right foot, and we can do so by assuring that everyone around the project table speaks in a common vernacular. To that end, we make our Project Management Lexicon available to all of our clients, prospects, and team members. The Lexicon covers more than 20 pages of industry definitions and acronyms, some conventional and some rather eclectic or irreverent—even including fun additions from our clients themselves. Believe me, it is an interesting read.
We may also have an expanding role in educating our project team members and collaborators about our client’s specific needs and wants: how they want to operate, their style of decision making and, yes, even their specific vocabulary. Every client has unique internal processes and politics (whether they know it or not or admit it or not) and we need to tune the Project Team into those nuances if we are going to have a successful project team dynamic. One large client, for whom we are currently developing a build-to-suit headquarters, has such a specific brand of internal communication and team-wide approach that we have developed a Client Lexicon to distribute to project team members so that they everyone knows what we are talking about.
Opportunities for education and mentoring abound throughout the course of a normal project. We make a point of trying to understand what the client knows and doesn’t know from day one, so that we can adapt our style of communication to meet their needs. Likewise some of the documentation is presented very differently, depending on the client’s prior experiences. Certainly, during Project Team meetings, we make it a point to sit next to our client contact, so that we can answer questions and discuss options whenever serious issues are presented to them. Often it is trying to explain a very technical issue in non-technical terms. Or simply letting them know what something costs before they commit to loving it as a solution.
Walking the space together at various stages of development is also an opportunity to educate: not only about how the construction is progressing, but also about facilities management issues and approaches that are more understandable when looking at the raw, unfinished space. Another fun education is to provide the client with insight into the “games our vendors play” and how to control those games to work in our project’s favor.
Many clients have no idea what trauma they may be facing during the relocation phase of the project. We often educate the entire staff on what to expect during the relocation and how to cope with the issues that will arise during general staff orientations and specific move captain training.
The expanding role of the Project Manager as educator/mentor brings a new welcome dynamic to our perspective. This is simply because we too, as enlightened, new day Project Managers, are in the business of always educating ourselves and applying new learning and approaches to our client’s benefit.
In our next edition, stay tuned for a discussion about resolving internal project team conflicts and issues.
Tags: corporate real estate, educator, PM, project manager, vendor
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Debunking the Myths of the Workstation
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
By Phillip Infelise, Chairman
In this blog entry I want to reflect on the current state of office workstation furniture since the procuring of it has been occupying so much of my time recently. Through the combination of a few large headquarters projects we are currently executing, we are directing two very different clients through the process of procuring more than $10 million worth of office furnishings. That volume of work exposes one to everything the office furniture industry has to offer.
Part of our responsibility is to educate our clients about what is out there that may be outside of their wheelhouse. From the time workstations were introduced in the 1960s, as long, monotonous rows of 6×6 standard sizes to tomorrow’s “panel free systems” with a myriad of storage options and teaming and collaborative stations, workstations have evolved substantially in the last half century.
The resistance from some people to accept where this evolution of office furniture has taken us is embedded in some myths about workstations. Those myths, realities (at least my take on them), and solutions follow:
-Myth: Employees need privacy that the workstation doesn’t provide.
Reality: On average, they may need that privacy 2% of their work day while the rest of the time could/should be spent collaborating and interacting with their colleagues.
Solution: The evolved workplace provides huddle rooms for those private times.
-Myth: Higher panels create the impression of visual and acoustic privacy.
Reality: Yes, but they also restrict collaboration and management oversight.
Solution: Moderate panel height with glass panels above achieves both.
-Myth: Lower panels create noisier workplace.
Reality: Just the opposite—research shows an incredible natural adaptation of workers to lower their sound volume when in a more open environment.
Solution: A modern sound-masking system and cultural adaption create a workplace that is actually quieter with low panels than without.
-Myth: Size is everything: more size equals more productivity.
Reality: Current 8×8 stations are huge, cost real estate, and wasteful; there are no more old monitors.
Solution: Try a 6×7 that with narrower surfaces offers just as much room as the old 8×8 with deep surfaces and corners.
-Myth: Managers can’t work in workstations; they must have offices.
Reality: The modern workstation can provide everything the Manager needs to do their job, 98% of the time.
Solution: Create adequate number of huddle rooms, quiet rooms, and collaborative areas.
-Myth: Managers can dictate workstation configuration, but they don’t sit in them?
Reality: Mangers tell us what their workers want, but it’s better to let them tell us themselves.
Solution: Educate management and let the younger generation occupying those workstations have a voice in their development.
-Myth: Workstations are impersonal and create an Orwellian group of workstation gnomes.
Reality: Actually, they can be 100% adaptable to individual needs and are often personalized with individual choices of layout, work tools, and accessories.
Solution: Drop the old workstation image and look at what is offered today—it’s a completely new world.
And it is not just about the workstation. Most of our clients are now warming to the notion that the most functional, flexible, and economic workplace is created when the same components are used in both the workstations and the private offices. Minimizing the kit-of-parts while maximizing the available configuration options is a huge win across the board.
The good news is that no matter what workplace style the client wants, we can navigate them to a solution that meets their needs. The great news is it can be done at price points that were unheard of a few years ago. Keeping our Project Managers educated about what the always innovating industry has to offer makes us better client educators about what is possible in the evolving workplace.
In my next edition, I will expand on our role as client educators.
Tags: corporate real estate, cubicle, office furniture, PM, project manager, workstation
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Engineering Value, Not Value Engineering
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
By Phillip Infelise, Chairman
In this edition I want to explore the difference between Engineering Value and Value Engineering, or specific ways that the New Day Project Manager can bring value to the project and put dollars back in the client’s pockets.
Any client that has been around projects long enough understands the term Value Engineering. And, frankly, shudders when they hear it. In the vast majority of projects, value engineering is a reactive position. It usually means the following:
-We have listened carefully and incorporated everything you wanted into the design of your project.
-We forgot to mention that some things you asked for (and we agreed to include in your design) you simply can’t afford in the context of the budget we (the whole team presumably) agreed upon.
-Now we have to show you the ways we will take thing that you really want (and maybe even really need) out of the project so that we can all say we delivered it “on budget.”
-In most case this means you get something close to what you wanted, but not quite. It may perform at a level lower, but hey, it costs a little less, right? Wrong!
In other words, Value Engineering is rarely a good thing—it means we are taking something from you that we promised we could provide. (The “We” means everyone on the Project Team that should know better; the client isn’t expected to know unless they have been told in advance).
In a proactive world where we hope most New Day Project Managers live (at least I know the CresaPartners ones do), it is appropriate to reverse the process and begin Engineering Value from the outset of the project. Engineering Value is a proactive approach wherein the Project Manager encourages the Project Team to always explore more cost-effective solutions wherever they may be, whether or not the client can “afford it”—since many times the same aesthetic and performance can be achieved at a much lower price point. It should be our everyday mission to always find a value-creating solution, no matter how big or small the client (or their pocket books). To do so requires that the Project Manager has a very strong grasp of what everything (absolutely everything) on a project costs and the experience to draw solutions from a variety of projects and source.
There are a deep and wide variety of opportunities to Engineer Value and here are just a few of them an experienced Project Manager will offer:
-Set the right budget (not just a too tight budget) in the first place and do the client the favor of avoiding Value Engineering entirely. Dig deep to make sure all of their needs are covered in the budget and help them envision items they may not anticipate themselves.
-Save square footage and save huge dollars. Understanding their business needs, creating appropriate but tight requirements, and producing efficient space programming creates a value home run that will mitigate the need for the bad value engineering phase.
-Right Size everything—offices, workstations, file rooms, take periodic storage offsite, etc. Again, economizing on square footage creates the biggest value right up front and can create an enhanced workplace.
-Hire the right project team that wants to partner on value creation and is not paid on a percentage of costs, which creates a potential disincentive to engineering value as a team.
-Force the design team to attach a specific dollar amount to every design solution that they offer so that the client understands the price of what they are falling in love with.
-Question any procurement where the client suggests they have “great national purchasing agreements.” There is so much exposure here that we often offer to work for just the savings on that specific item, as value gaps on big ticket items like furniture can cover our PM fees many time over.
-Explore “pre-owned” furniture in this aggressive market so long as you understand the full costs involved—but be prepared to buy all new as manufacturers have adjusted pricing to compete head to head against that market.
-Specify carpet face weight based on the years the client will be in the space—use lower carpet face weight for a seven year term, higher for a ten, and highest for a twelve. Face Weight = Cost. Don’t pay for value you will never be able to access.
-Purge. Force the client to energize a serious purge campaign so that they are not paying to relocate stuff they will never use.
Note that none of these suggestions sacrifice quality or performance; they simply suggest alternatives that cost less money. That’s Engineering Value. That’s what we do.
If you are following this blogger, you know we have followed an evolving pattern of subjects since day one. For the next edition in a few months, I am ready to take suggestions. Let me know what you want to hear about in this wonderful world of the New Day Project Management approach.
Tags: corporate real estate, cost savings, engineering value, PM, project manager, value engineering
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Draft Choices
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010
By Phillip Infelise
Back again, are you? Good to have you.
Last month we profiled the New Day Project Manager. A very eclectic mix of skills don’t you think? To act as a high performance Project Manager (PM), you need a very high performance project team. I thought it would be good to show you how we go about picking our first round draft choices in concert with our client’s internal team. As you might imagine, our PMs are inundated with vendors/providers of all varieties wanting to carve out an “inside track” to some of our clients and their projects. If we announce a major new project, we become every vendor’s new best friends. We get constant offers of “referral payments” from vendors of all types. In our industry, it is the hidden referral fees that we worry about. We need to be constantly vigilant to protect our objectivity, reputation, and integrity by keeping our vendor relationships totally transparent.
Our rigorous Vendor Protocol outlines a “Do the Right Thing” approach to vendor relationships that sets out strict controls on the way we select our project teams. One violation is grounds for termination—that’s how seriously we take it since everyone is looking over our shoulder, as they should be! The basic components of that protocol and our approach to making the right draft choices and creating the perfect high performance project team include:
-Client First. The client’s procurement policies or desires control how we move forward.
-Respect. For any existing client relationships; but be willing to point out the not all past relationships will be perfectly appropriate to this specific project scope.
-Leverage. Our experience on similar projects to suggest a recommendation list of the best qualified providers.
-Process. Follow a step-by-step process throughout the RFP, short-list, interview, and selection phases that allow each vendor to put their best foot forward.
-Value over Price. Constantly remind the team members that we honor value over bottom line price every time. Unless the client says otherwise, of course.
-Give Back. For their efforts, we owe the team members a thorough debrief, win or lose, so that they can improve their game for the next time.
-Special Circumstances. Such as timing or budget constraints may dictate—on the rarest occasions—the need for the PM to bring forward an integrated project team of their own choosing to suggest to the client in order to be successful.
-Proof. If we have successfully executed a project team selection, the proof will be in the results. Does the winner want to work with us again on the next project and, equally important to us, do the vendors that lost want to participate in our next RFP process.
The right team ensures success and makes the high performance Project Manager look like a genius.
Next time, I will try to be provocative in pointing our biggest challenges as Project Managers.
What topics would you like to see covered relating to Project Management?
Tags: project manager, project team
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