Transcript Proj Mgmt of eLearning

Training 2009: Atlanta, Georgia
Strategies for Successful
eLearning Project Management
Presented by: Mark Steiner, President, mark steiner, inc.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 08:30 AM - 09:30 AM
Session 612
Format: Breakout Session
Track(s): Advanced Training Topics, Instructional
Designer/Developer, Training Manager/Supervisor
Objectives: 1. List ten vital principles for PM success. 2. Explain
unique challenges of eLearning projects. 3. Identify specific
strategies to ensure the success of your eLearning project.
Brief Bio: For over 15 years, Mark Steiner has designed, developed,
and managed custom eLearning and interactive media programs
for a variety of clients. His project roles have varied from group
director to project manager, and lead instructional designer to lead
programmer and he is intimately familiar with proven eLearning
methodologies.
Contact: [email protected], (773) 392-7967
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Training 2009: Atlanta, Georgia
Strategies for
Successful eLearning
Project Management
Mark Steiner
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
08:30 AM - 09:30 AM
Session 612
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Agenda
 Introductions
 Purpose of Session
 Project, PM
Definition
 Project Phases
 Project Planning
 Relationship
between PM and
Estimating
 Project Risks
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 WBS, Critical Path
 Producing a
Workable Schedule
 Project Evaluation
and Control
 Measuring Progress
 Leadership
 Team Building
 Review and
Questions
Our First Quote
 Learning is not attained by chance. It
must be sought for with some ardor
and attended to with some diligence.
(Abigail Adams)
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Speaker Background
 BS Industrial Tech. ‘88
 MS Instructional Design ‘92
 15+ years eLearning & interactive media
des./dev. experience
 Successfully competed 100+
eLearning/interactive media projects
 Presenter - eLearning Confs. US & Europe
 Started mark steiner, inc. in March 2001
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Audience Background
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Project Manager/ID/Developer mix?
Average size of projects/teams?
eLearning experience?
Any PM horror stories?
Purpose of Session
 Provide information, experience, and
anecdotes regarding project
management, especially as it relates to
eLearning projects
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Audience Exercise
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Fold the paper in half
Turn the paper 90 degrees
Tear off the best corner
Fold the paper in half, again.
Tear off the next best corner.
Fold the paper in thirds, exactly.
Turn the paper 122 degrees
Tear off outside corner.
DONE!
SO WHAT !!!!!!
 eLearning Projects are usually
complicated.
 Often there are many people fulfilling
many roles, and somehow, the work must
be communicated and managed.
 The most successful, well run, least
painful projects ARE NOT LUCK!
 One key to a successful project is a welldefined and managed process, combined
with the tools to support it.
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A quote . . .
 Lots of folks confuse bad management
with destiny.
–Kin Hubbard
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Project Definition
 Definition of a project: a one-time job that
has a definite starting and ending point, with
a clearly defined scope of work and budget,
and is multitask in nature (usually using a
temporary team).
 A project is a problem scheduled for a
solution. (J. M. Juran)
 Project Management: The application of
knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to
project activities to meet the project
requirements.
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PMBOK Guide 3rd edition p 368.
Project Management Definition
 Project Management is the facilitation of the
planning, scheduling, and controlling of all
activities that must be done to meet the project
objectives.
 The Four Constraints: Good, Fast, Cheap . . .
Scope
 C=f(P,T,S) Cost is a function of Performance,
Time, and Scope.
 You can assign values to only three of the
constraints. The 4th will be whatever the
relationship dictates it will be.
 Another way to look at a project: People, Tools,
Systems
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Project Phases
 Definition - If you don’t know what you’re
doing, how will you know when you’re done?
 Planning - How will we do what we’re
supposed to do and when we’re supposed to
do it?
 Execution - Do it.
 Closeout - Did we do it? How did we do?
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Defining the Project
 There is always an easy solution to every
human problem: neat, plausible, and wrong.
(H. L. Mencken)
 The way a problem is defined determines
how it is attempted to be solved.
 If the definition is wrong, you will develop the
right solution to the wrong problem.
 You can’t solve a problem with the same
thinking that created it in the first place (Albert
Einstein)
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A Few Planning Quotes
 The secret of getting ahead is getting started.
The secret of getting started is breaking your
complex overwhelming tasks into small
manageable tasks, and then starting on the
first one. (Mark Twain)
 Plans are only good intentions unless they
immediately degenerate into hard work. (Peter
Drucker)
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Planning the Project
 Planning is really just answering the
questions of Who, What, When, Why, How
Much, How Long.
 The uncreative mind can spot wrong
answers, but it takes a creative mind to spot
wrong questions.
 Why Plan? There is a higher probability that
things will accidentally go wrong than that
they will they will accidentally go right.
 By definition, No Plan = No Control
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Project Plan Elements
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Problem Statement
Project Objectives
Work Requirements/Deliverables
Exit Criteria
Work Breakdown Structure
Schedules
Required Resources
Project Controls
Major Contributors
Risk Areas and Contingencies
Mistakes in Planning
 Not involving in the planning . . . the people
who must do the work.
 Ready-fire-aim.
 Broad-brush planning (if you aren’t careful,
ballpark estimates become targets).
Specifically, never have a task greater than
40 hours.
 Microplanning (never plan more than you can
control, also, at some point the real work
needs to begin).
 Failing to plan for risks
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A Few Quotes on Estimating
 It is better to be approximately right
than precisely wrong. (Warren Buffett)
 Virtually every important action in life
involves educated guesswork. Too
few chances reliably translates into
too few victories. (Thomas W. Hazlett)
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Relationship between PM and Estimating
 Estimating = Guessing!
 An exact estimate is an oxymoron.
 Goldratt’s Principle: A project will
accumulate delays but will never accumulate
gains.
 Consensual estimating . . .
None of us is as smart as all of us.
(Phil Condit)
 The beginnings of a project plan start with
estimating: tasks, resources, scheduling.
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Project Risks
 A risk is anything that may happen that
could create an adverse effect on the
schedule, costs, quality, or scope.
 What we anticipate seldom occurs.
What we least expect generally
happens. (Benjamin Disraeli)
 Ask yourself: What could go wrong?
 Quantify and prioritize risks.
 Develop contingency plans for
prioritized risks that cannot be ignored.
 Three ways to manage risk: avoidance,
mitigation, transfer
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WBS, Critical Path
 WBS = Work Breakdown Structure
 WBS does not show sequence. It’s purpose is to
capture and organize the tasks.
 WBS should be outcome-based, not actionbased.
 A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is not an
exhaustive list of work. It is instead a
comprehensive classification of project scope.
 Critical Path: the longest path through the
project. Because it has no slack, all activities
must be completed as scheduled or the end date
will slip one day for each day a critical activity is
delayed.
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Producing a Workable Schedule
 Failure to consider resource allocation almost always
leads to a schedule that cannot be achieved.
 How does a project get to be a year behind schedule?
One day at a time.
 Giving a person who knows nothing about PM a
powerful scheduling software just allows them to
document their failures with great precision.
 Mock up a schedule on paper or a simple program
first (Word, Excel).
 Never schedule more detail than you can control.
 You cannot do a time or cost estimate without
considering who will actually perform the task.
 Nobody is ever productive 100% of the day; it’s
probably more like 80%.
 A schedule should be used to manage the project, not
make you a slave to the software. (MS Project)
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Project Evaluation and Control,
Measuring Progress
 A perfect method for adding drama to life is to wait
until the deadline looms large. (Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby)
 Control: to compare progress against plan so that
corrective action can be taken when a deviation
occurs.
 The difficulty of measuring progress does not justify
the conclusion that it shouldn’t be done. You cannot
have control unless you measure progress.
 Unless you know both cost and schedule, you will
have no idea where project actually is.
 The 15 % Rule: If you are 15% into the project (based
on time) and you are in trouble, you will stay in
trouble!
 I prefer Excel to Project, as it is more manageable dayto-day.
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Conducting Project Reviews
 SIX PHASES OF A PROJECT
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Wild Enthusiasm
Disillusionment
Total Confusion
Search for the Guilty
Punishment of the Innocents
Promotion of the Non-Participants
Conducting Project Reviews
 Over the course of the project, reviews
should be used to discuss: Status,
Realignment, Risk, Elevate Communication,
Request Assistance
 Project reviews conducted as witch hunts will
produce witches!
 Stay in the positive: What have we done
well? What can we improve upon?
 Create a Lessons Learned document. The
objective is to improve future performance.
 There is a big difference between an excuse
and an explanation: excuses are
unacceptable, explanations are acceptable.
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Leadership
 Leadership is the capacity to translate
vision into reality. (Warren Bennis)
 Leadership is the art of getting others to
want to do something that you are
convinced needs to be done. (Vance
Packard)
 You are only a leader if you have followers.
(James McGregor Burns)
 Kouzes and Posner’s 5 Fundamentals to
Leadership
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Challenge the process
Inspire a shared vision
Enable others to act
Model the way
Encourage the heart
Team Building
 A team is a group of people who are committed
to attaining a common goal, enjoy working
together, and produce high-quality results.
 Teams don’t just happen, they must be built.
 If you want people to be committed to your
project, you’d better address WIIFM
 There are two kinds of authority: power over
people, and the ability to make decisions and act
unilaterally.
 Every team must deal with: goals, roles and
responsibilities, procedures, relationships.
 Communication is the key.
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Review
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A project is a problem scheduled for a solution.
The Four Constraints: Good, Fast, Cheap & Scope
Four Phases: Definition, Planning, Execution, Closeout
Planning is really just answering the questions of Who,
What, When, Why, How Much, How Long.
Every project must plan for risks.
Produce a workable schedule with consensual/multiple
inputs and the right amount of task detail.
You must measure progress, take control and corrective
actions.
Conduct positive Project Reviews to increase future
performance.
Be a leader, not a manager.
Communication is the key to a successful team and
project.
Questions
 He who is afraid to ask is afraid of
learning. (Danish proverb)
 Contact Info:
[email protected]
http://marksteinerinc.com
Thank You!
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