Project Management

Implementing International Trade through Project Management

_1999, Wayne Lundberg, CMfgE

"Success in business is mainly due to people getting the right things done, on time, within budget"

(Test your point-of-view on Project Management)

Project Management is to business what Guerrilla Warfare is in international diplomacy. Today's guerrilla hero may well be tomorrow's villain. (Lee Iacocca, Colonel North, Patton) Project management is the process which allows for disorder within an orderly structure. Projects come to life, are executed, and the people who performed individual tasks normally return to daily operating routines, and may be recognized for promotion or extinction - depending. In today's world the person's resume with the greatest number of successful projects will land on the top

Project management is as much about attitude and personal leadership as it is about technique, Gantt charts and milestones. You will come to understand this through several mind boggling examples.
Few companies have organizations specializing in Project Management. Most companies rely on individual 'go-getters' or rebels to identify, analyze, organize and execute projects. These are the champions of change, the Rowans of the world as found in the world's most published pamphlet "Message to Garcia". Organization charts normally do not show Project Management per-se.

Briefly, change in any organization is the fuel for success and survival. Change is achieved through Project Management. A project consists of a well defined result such as systematically embracing international trade, increased sales, a new building, a new machining center, a new workcenter, a new factory, a wedding, etc. Project management principles are also used in new product design, software design & implementation and the like. The elements that make up a project are The Name, Tasks, Resources and Schedule. The typical map of a project is called a Gantt Chart:

This example is from a $29 software package; "Project Manager Pro" on a CD ROM from Softkey available through www.ShopMattel.com/catalog

Defining the project budget is usually a function of having identified the tasks required to accomplish the objective. You start by making a list of everything that must take place to achieve the objective, then attaching a price either in hours or money. To help you make this list, project your imagination into the future when the project has been completed. Then list everything you had to do to make it real. Project management is the ability to work in the future. Double-takes, blinking of eyes is a recognized affliction of PMs (Project Managers) who shift hourly from present to future, to present - like time travelers.

The emphasis in this course will be in developing an international trade system within your company. The list will include items such as creating a bank account that will accept foreign currency, developing sales material in conformance with the national standards with whom you will be dealing, assisting your shipping department sort through the maze of metric measures, helping your QA department understand specifications written in another language, locating translation services at bargain rates, teaching your CEO how to have lunch in a Mexican restaurant without giving the baby away, and a hundred other tasks that must be done in order to become a true international competitor. The details are included in the Supply Chain outline. (Please use this outline as your checklist during this project management sequence. Select relevant items, convert them to tasks, assign responsibility, costs and start-stop times for each.)

Time to completion is usually a function of how well the project will empower or satisfy that portion of the business objective. Projects are levers to the business objective. International trade is one of the few options a company has to magnify margins at minimum costs. This works when you have a bit of excess capacity, AND/OR when you can find high-quality, low-cost items for your supply chain. A spreadsheet analysis comparing the benefits from implementing ERP, Continuous Process Improvements, Total Quality Management, ISO9000, SPC and International Trade (IT) will show that IT offers four times the profit potential over the others. If a million dollar a year company implements an ERP system, they may see a $2 million cost reduction after five years. The same company could see an $8 million increase in the same period of time if the choice were international trade.

In the real world there are two kinds of environments where Project Management may take place. For you to succeed, you MUST know which one you are working in.

1-Where Tasks, Resources and Schedules are written and used as the authority to move mountains if need be to get the Tasks done. (Call this a Type 1 company)

2-Where weekly meetings are held during which time each 'responsible' player accuses other departments for not coming across in time and thus cannot be held accountable. (Call this a Class 2 company, the salute being finger-pointing)

The difference between companies that succeed in the world marketplace and provide a healthy return on the investor's money are those that adhere to the first kind with bulldog tenacity.

Most monopolies, public service companies, old and tired Fortune 500's, defense contractors and government agencies function as illustrated in the second instance. Profit-oriented companies simply do not survive if they are a Class 2 company.
To the outsider, new employee or consultant coming into contact with a company for the first time there is one clue which indicates whether the company is a class 1 or 2. This is vital if the PM is to succeed.

Typical of a class 2 company are the following:

· "The look at me" syndrome by middle managers as they look for approval from their superiors by being 'Johnny on the spot' or in meetings or visible in any number of ways.

· Edit reports to make the reading more agreeable to upper management (conceal bad news).

· Keep underlings from making contact with upper management by invoking a military style chain of command.

· Strictly maintain a no open-door policy - the higher the hierarchy the less they listen.. Visualize the CEO in the corner room with ten people between him and you.

· No suggestion boxes nor clear-cut method for those on the floor or technical talent to communicate except through their direct supervisor. And you know it will go no further.

· Credit is taken for work done by others.

· There seldom if ever is a dual career path allowing technical personnel advancement without joining the management priesthood.

· Management itself becomes like a religion.

· Kill the messenger if they bring bad news.

Again, this is a typical class 2 company. Excuses are acceptable since there is simply no other way to survive. Middle management close ranks to protect one another and prevent the truth of just how bad the operation is from reaching upper management which encourages such activities by conveniently looking in the other direction. They know that no matter how bad it is they will get a bonus or a golden parachute. Rules fill thick books and are disciplined arbitrarily - serving mostly as a method for 'setting-up' non-conformists.

Compare the above with a typical Class 1 company:

"The upside-down pyramid company" where management is intent to empower individuals who are expected to do the work. This kind of operation will hire good people and put into place an organization which supports individual efforts and where they are encouraged to argue with the boss. Peters, of In Search of Excellence, refers to this as Management by Walking About and is a key indicator of a successful company. Andrew Grove has created this as the corporate culture at Intel.

· Technical personnel can make progress through their specialty and be promoted within their field of interest.

· Individuals are considered key contributors whose intelligence and experience is of value.

· Technical personnel have 'the right to be heard', (Ideas are listened to).

· Success leads to further opportunities.

Typical of this are volunteer organizations, high-tech, electronics, venture start-ups, fast growth companies. Examples frequently cited are Intel, early Microsoft, North American Tool, 3M, HP, GE and even some divisions within IBM.

In a Class 1 company management assumes that most people want to contribute and make it easy for them to do so. In a Class 2 company management makes the assumption that managers are the only people with an idea worth doing, yet very few of them have the training, experience, or knowledge to support the belief.

If a Project Leader goes 'hell bent for leather' to accomplish the tasks on time as required in a Class 1 company they will be punished if it is done in a Class 2 company. Punishment will not be direct but will be concealed as middle management recognize the threat of having to share visibility. Remember, there is nothing more valuable to a Class 2 manager or supervisor than visibility from above. They simply cannot share it.

Even in a Class 1 company the serious Project Leader will do well to gain support from some person in upper management. Key to upward mobility for any newcomer is to be able to survive each day to fight another battle the next day. When an active PM or Project Leader constantly promotes the tasks through the system they will be using the authority of upper management but will be carrying the 'permission' themselves. To enter the purchasing manager's office insisting that greater priority be given to your task is going to get results, but is going to cost in the personal relations balance sheet. The purchasing manager is not going to like you. Since no project can be accomplished without interfacing with many departments there will be many occasions for this kind of horn-bucking. You will need the support from an individual in upper management. It need not be personal, and you may never even see the individual. It is usually enough that the organization know that you are under their sponsorship or protection. This is called the Sponsor/Champion relationship. Few, if any, projects get done, in a Class 1 or a Class 2 company without some form of formal or informal Sponsor/Champion format. You need that VP or CEO in your phone book even if you never have to call them. Their job is to lift you up, dust you down and send you on your way again when torched by an angry purchasing agent, union rep, facilities manager or what-not. Believe me - you can't bring about change without disrupting other people's comfort zone.

Clearly, up to this point you have been exposed to a philosophy of Project Management and not the nuts and bolts on how to go about it. But success in accomplishing your tasks, on time, and within budget... in fact writing and even thinking through the project takes second place to the environment in which you will be executing it. You may know the project objective, but of equal or greater importance is the internal political strategy you will use to reach your destination.

Before shrugging off the concept that successful project leaders are punished for succeeding, remember Lee Iacocca for being fired from Ford after he personally brought the company to incredible profits with the Mustang and Thunderbird and how later he was fired from the Statue of Liberty program as it proved to be equally successful.

Project Management covers many activities. They include:

· Implementing an International Trade system

· Starting up your own business or manufacturing facility,
· Developing a new product and launching it into the marketplace

· Creating a new software package

· Building a house or a seventh wonder of the world,

· Determining the need for a tool and working through the cost justification to hand-off to a production worker.

· The heart, the real power behind Continuous Process Improvement and the Success Spiral.

The first paragraph in this manual said "Success in business is mainly due to people getting the right things done, on time, within budget." Failure is usually due to some person not receiving a key piece of information. Communication then becomes the blood-line of a project. Notice the use of the world people because it is people, not machines, printers, mail, telephone lines or networks. People who look other people in the eye until they are sure communication has taken place. People who are willing to be held accountable. People who make sure there will never be an excuse. For the rest of this course assume you will be executing your new skills in a Class 1 type operation.

Remember that in a Class 1 operation you are responsible but you have access to management when you need real horsepower to apply to a problem. This is expected of you. In a Class 2 operation you can simply blame some other department for not delivering their promise on time. This is OK and will result in many meetings through which your supervisor can gain visibility. Do not make the mistake of dismissing this statement as an 'off the cuff' hit at management. It has taken over 30 years of experience to extract this crucial piece of information which if I had when I started would have made life much, much simpler.

New Project, Clean Desk.

Use this checklist to ensure that you have all the tools you will be needing. We will be covering each item in further detail.

When you receive the green light to proceed immediately write a brief summary of the project, the expected time, budget and the expected measurable results. Submit this and get a signature. You will do this during several milestone meetings during the life of the project. If you don't you are going to fail. I absolutely guaranty it. Some people call this CYA paperwork. It is not. It is the most vital piece of paper in the whole project. It is your permission to do major surgery and it clearly defines where you can cut and where you can't. More on this when you read the part about delegation.

1. Signed memo validating project objective.

2. Project Name
3. Deadline

4. Resources available in people and money.

5. Milestones; key dates to interface with

6. A telephone and answering machine

7. Folded paper in shirt pocket with calendar (The most valuable tool I use)

8. A pad of paper

9. A 31 day file folder.

10. An appointment book with room for notes and phone numbers.

11. An upper management Sponsor.

12. Class 1 or Class 2 environment.
- 13. Fast-track or Sequential Methodology.
14. If frequent reports are expected; a computer and Gantt charting software such as Timeline or Easy Project or other Critical Path Management (CPM) software and printer.

15. If computer, then a modem and connection to the Internet or other E-mail server.

16. Vendor and Technical library.

Now, let's get into detail and cover the elements you need to master for each component.

Your project is to implement an International Trade system within your organization. You have six months in which to prepare the organization for the first transaction which may be selling something to a company in a foreign country, or buying supplies from a foreign company. Most people would think that all that is necessary is to find a customer or find a supplier, and that's it. OK, supposing you have found a customer for your product in Mexico. They are eager to buy and want a truckload NOW! Remember, you are going to set up a system to handle this kind of transaction. A system means that every department that will have anything to do with import/export must be brought up to speed.

Your problem, working within an organization, will be in getting support for your ideas not only from management but from shop floor personnel and supervisors as well. The tool best suited to allow you a forum for communication, without emotion, without the iceberg sinking your ship, without the proverbial sand-in-the-gearbox syndrome from killing your project, is to use the Socratic Method.

If you are an experienced champion of change you don't need to read this. If you are starting the process of project leadership, participation or management this is 'must-read'. Even though you may have been hired with the idea of developing you into a change-master, change is difficult, even to those who pay you to do it. Your success depends on building consensus from top to bottom for those people who will be affected by the change. You simply cannot impose your change on a clerk in the store, a machinist in the shop, a salesman in the field, a programmer or systems analyst without getting their approval. The only way for you as an outsider or even as a supervisor to get their approval is for them to tell you they want what you intend to change. The only way for you to get them to tell you what you want to hear is to use the Socratic Method. Simply stated: You ask questions until you hear what you want to hear. If you don't get their support you will most certainly find sand in the gearbox of whatever project you force down their throats. Some call it sabotage.

You start on the assumption that you are right. That the project has merit. That it will do what the company wants. That everybody will win. Now you go to each future user and you talk about the MISSION - every company, every group, every person in a success-driven company has a mission statement. You ask what can management do to help them achieve their mission, their success. They will start talking. Their answers will give you clues as to what you need to ask next. The ultimate goal is for them to tell you what you want to hear. Then you tell them that is exactly what management is going to do through the project you are coordinating. Then ask for their help. If you are a hot-shot fresh out of the top engineering school this is especially important. Most people get a thrill when they see an arrogant college grad fall flat on their face. Without getting your co-workers help you will fail. Again, this is a guaranty.

The Project

You are the project leader or manager. You have agreed with management on the time-frame and on the resources you will need to have. Management has told you "We have agreed upon the project; we both see the end result and have defined it through a clearly understood, non-legalese, specification. We agree to give you the resources necessary to accomplish this objective. You have agreed to make it real within this time-frame and budget. If you do this, you will get a chance to play the game again." Management never adds the second phrase to the last sentence... "if you don't pull it off you'd better find another job." The message is there nevertheless in a Class 1 company.

With the project clearly in mind proceed with each of the items listed in the checklist as follows.

Project Name. A key factor in communication.

By whatever name, a rose is still a rose. But for Project Management the name will be used in many ways. On the computer, in memos, frequently in short conversations in person and on the phone. You need to come up with a name which conjures an image in the mind's eye. A nickname that says it all. At first it may sound silly but think of all the code names used by the military. Most people believe they were coded for secrecy's sake. The Manhattan project was, but others are not. They are coded for easy reference. Acronyms such as TQM, SPC, CPI, BOM... solve the problem of brevity, but they also tend to cause glazed-over eyes of your listeners whenever you say them. So name the project something special, then add an explanation of what it means. At Caterpillar I named my project for designing and building an automated vacuum furnace shuttle system the "Six Shooter" because it had six shuttle stations to be loaded by the day shift for automated cycling during swing and graveyard shift. It lent itself for puns when meetings tended to get too serious or go into shouting matches.

Lightning-fast communication is of paramount importance. If you can create an image of what you are working on quickly, then refer to it with a minimum fuss, you have established a 'red phone' syndrome. If you had the red phone, you'd know who was calling instantly. You want to do this with your programs. Your voice on the phone is one signal, the key-word to the listener is the other that completes the mind-image connection. Now you can talk about it. Remember that TIME is the most valuable asset to any person on the success roller-coaster.

Tasks

A task is a small project and contains all the elements of a project; an action item, a name, time-frame and resources and is a stepping stone for the project itself.

The tasks make up the project. They started as the item by item listing of things to do to achieve the project objective. A project is nothing more than an idea, a dream, a vision - anchored to reality with the element of time and resources. When you developed your project outline and budget you listed all the things that had to happen to make it a reality. Now you take item by item and make them into mini-projects, tasks. Each task will have a time, a person and money or other resource, and a measurable objective. In many cases the measurable will be a simple YES or NO.

A true real-world case should illustrate this quite well. The project is the creation of a new business to supply color-puncture devices to the huge, and growing, alternative medicine market. My part of the business is to develop the delivery instrument based on very tight specifications on the color spectrum it must generate, intensity, size, weight, balance, appearance and packaging. Today the product is being manufactured and is on the market under the name of Chroma-Lite-II.

The tasks were: determine and find color filter sources, define color tolerances, develop quality assurance instruments to verify compliance to color specifications, develop mechanism for color changes, determine light and battery specifications, develop a series of prototypes toward end objective, test-market prototypes, incorporate feedback, make engineering changes, release pre-production run, incorporate feedback, make engineering changes, release to production, initiate Continuous Process Improvement, start new models to counter rip-off artists, and so forth.

I use a spreadsheet to help me through this process. In the first column I put the item, then in the following columns: Design/Engineering, target date/actual date - Make/buy, issue PO, received - Tooling, issue so, complete - estimated cost, actual cost - responsibility - comments - completed. Often there are hundreds of line items but at a glance you will be able to see where you are and what you MUST expedite in order to stay on track.

Many tasks are intertwined such as the type of filter source and the mechanism for delivery blend into the basic design size, shape and weight of the instrument. But each task must fit within the time-line of the overall business strategy. Launch date for the first prototypes July 4, 1997. Launch date for first production units September 4. Based on each task we developed a budget. The budget is a critical element of any project and falls under the category of resources. Your spreadsheet action list might look something like this:

As a project manager much of your time and effort will be in getting the resources and applying the resources to your project. This means learning how to beg for money. A project manager is very much the same as an entrepreneur. The main difference is that you, within the company, have access to resources based on the company objectives and should be able to get funding with less difficulty than an entrepreneur who wears out knee-pads at banks and venture capital offices. More on this later.

Deadline:

Not one but zillions! That's what project management is about. It is the mastery, the dominion of deadlines. Just as there were Class 1 organizations and Class 2, there are Fast-Track and Sequential methods for organizing tasks. In both cases deadlines determine the outcome. If the project is deemed extremely urgent by management then it will be Fast-Track programmed which means that a whole lot of things will take place at the same time. Design will be working on the final assembly while tooling is being designed for parts that have not even been drawn yet. People will be screened and put on the payroll even as workbenches are being ordered and if things go right then the bench, the people, the tool, the drawing, the operation instructions and the material will come together at the same instant. It is possible, and it is exciting when it happens.

A recent success with this form of project management took place at Solar Div. of Caterpillar in San Diego from 1983 to 1985. The decision was made to introduce a new land based turbine engine called the "H". It would be designed using state-of-the-art technology and tooled even as it was being designed. In early 1985 Ruel Patterson , then vice-president, unveiled the new "H" engine in front of the company cafeteria about one month ahead of schedule. It was one of the most painful projects to have been tackled by any company since the war and one of the most gratifying for those who 'played the game'.

Imagine the task of making sure the design was signed off just in time to get to the tooling shop where all the materials are now ready for final machining to the final dimensions on the drawing. Everything roughed in up to that point. Then making the first parts and getting them to assembly at the exact right moment for the fixture to be made in accordance to the last drawing. This happening in thousands of places through hundreds of people within a matrix organization. It is not recommended for the weak of heart! Deadlines? The word is mild for the meaning it carries.

A more gentle approach, not necessarily a favorite of the medical profession for it does not produce nearly as many patients as Fast-Track programming, is sequential. The traditional Gantt chart which shows a thick ribbon of activity on line one, then picks up a line down, and again a line down, until looking like a neat stairway going down, you come to a deadline for the completion of the project.

Here, you decide on the project then schedule the events in such a way that nothing happens until the first task is completed. (Or a series of tasks). In some projects this is the only way they can be executed.

Still, the deadlines are the power behind these projects. If you determine that the specification must be written prior to submitting it for a bid prior to issuing a purchase order, prior to training people, prior to .... Well, you can see that the same deadly force is at work; time. You slip the whole project if you slip one task. When deadlines are cast in concrete you dare not slip a task. You are responsible and must ensure that you know if the project is going to slip even before it happens. You know that John in purchasing is slow. You know you have to get him something to work on ahead of schedule and stay with him until he comes through. Time is your master and nobody else counts.

This is why you have such complete control over the thousands of details in the program. This is why your notebook is always with you and why you write down the people's name as you meet them in person or on the phone. Why you look at promise dates with an eagle eye and why you don't believe anybody. If the material for task 21 is due to be delivered in a week you call the vendor under some pretext to find out if in fact this will happen. You don't go to the purchasing agent and follow the normal channels of communication because these people want you to feel good so they will tell you not to worry, that everything is under control. They have your best interests at heart. Their sincerity is to be clearly seen on their countenance. You can't afford to be lulled into their sense of security. You have to become devious so you don't offend them and in so doing you will be caught from time to time. This is when your guardian angel upstairs may have to smooth some ruffled feathers. Just remember that you cannot afford to miss a deadline.

Resources- Time, Money, People

Just as you cannot afford to miss your budget by much. How much is much is a function of the culture in which you work. Sometimes it's 5 sometimes 50 sometimes 500 depending on what the end result will do for the overall business. Remember that most projects are leverage factors in achieving business objectives. But the long and short of it is that time is usually the more critical of the two and that if money can make up for lost time, then money will be spent to do so. Not always.

This statement is being made only to show you that in general, time is of greater value than money. But there are organizations that value budget management more than time. Generally, and this is really on the vapor side, companies that put emphasis on budget over time are on their way down. Generally, these companies are very slow in acting because they take so long in planning each step and each dollar to be spent. Normally, these are the more conservative companies and normally they are prone to lose market share because of their slowness to act.

Here's an example of the value of time over money. The Republican National Convention is coming to town and you are a badge manufacturer. You have three weeks to set up shop on the convention floor, your bid was approved, late, of course. You have one stamping machine capable of putting out one badge every minute. This includes forming, printing, assembly, etc. At a buck a piece you can gross $60 per hour on three shifts, or $1,440 per day with margins of 80 for a gross profit of over a thousand bucks a day. If you had two machines you could gross two thousand a day. The machine costs one thousand Dollars but is in Chicago. Trucking it to San Diego will be $350 in freight but will arrive in San Diego on the last day of the convention. Air freight is $2,000. The convention itself is only a few days long but visitors will be pouring into the area ten days before. You have a twelve day opportunity. What do you do? (By spending three thousand for the machine and freight we stand to make $24,000 gross profit. Spending less for freight will make us lose the POTENTIAL income. Time, indeed, is money.

You must clarify the value of time Vs money with your management at the very start of any project. If you run into time constraints and can buy your way out, will it be possible? They will say no, but look for the real answer through how they do things elsewhere. I recently designed and implemented a complete manufacturing facility for a high-tech startup. They were in a great hurry to get production up to speed even before the product was fully developed and documented. I advised them of the very high likelihood of cost overruns as we would be shifting gears and direction over a very short period of time. Their board said no cost overruns with their heads but we all knew there would be overruns in order to make that first delivery to that first customer on time. I had no problems getting the extra moneys when needed and I got to play the game again when asked to develop an add-on automation device to their main product line.

There are two main reasons for projects even though I listed several reasons pages ago. One is to increase output through new plant, new tools, new stores, new products (that's one)

The budget is the cost of loss on all things from scrap, rework, missed deadlines, wrong material received, wrong material shipped, on

Resources other than money:

Other resources are people, libraries, vendors, schools, the SBDC & ITC at Southwestern College, government agencies, Gypsies and Fortune-Tellers.
Few project leaders have people report to them yet they get things done through people just as any manager would. Only you have no control over these individuals. You are borrowing them or "selling" them into doing things for you. Of course your project and schedule is your master and you know the company depends on your succeeding with the project for their survival but few other people know this. Few will believe the company's future is in your hands. Again, communication is your sword. Again, the name you gave your project and the vision it creates in people's minds will come to your aid. People like to be involved in new things... sometimes. People like being part of some new enterprise... sometimes. Hundreds of books have been written about salesmanship and leadership and they will not be repeated here. Enough said that you should read Nierberger's book on "How to Sell your Idea" or Dale Carnegies most popular of all self-help book "How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Technology is the foundation for applying intelligent power to the equation of converting raw material into a finished product; but the ability to get people to help you is even more important. As Jack Welsh GE's famous president said a few years ago : "If you're an engineer and don't take your idea out of your desk drawer and make it happen then you are worthless." That takes salesmanship.

In the meantime wear a pleasant smile, remember people's names, do something nice when they do something for you even if it's a "thank you". Let them know you "owe them one, and please collect it!". Make them feel a part of the project; that they will be 'plank-owners'. When they say they will have it ready at 4PM "just for you"make sure you are there at 4PM to get it!Don't argue... listen instead. In listening you will see what you need to give them so they will give you what you need. Follow these simple rules and you will do well.

I am constantly amazed at how few people are aware of the multitude of resources available to them for free and sometimes for minimal fee. A divorced acquaintance was about to quit college to get a job to pay the bills. I told her she could get paid for going to school and accomplish both her objectives. All it took was a few phone calls and a visit to the ROP office. When contracted to set up Form Physics process automation showpiece I recruited four soon-to-graduate interns from City College and led them through design, build and debug including teaching them project management. We completed the task for $30,000 and ahead of schedule. An estimate from a local vendor was $150,000 and one year. At Rohr we gathered 20 subject matter experts and put them into a classroom where they would learn to teach their expertise. Writing and organizing their material would have cost millions of Dollars through the conventional methods so we recruited interns from ISU at North Island who did the work for college credits alone. The local colleges have an abundance of students who need practical experience as part of their pre-requisites. These interns will do almost anything and will do it for nothing or at minimum wage. Some colleges, such as my Southwestern College in Chula Vista, CA have the SBDC (Small Business Development Center) and ITC (International Trade Center) where initial consultations on almost any subject are paid for through the SBA (Small Business Administration).

Vendors have proven to be among the best resources I have ever used. Time and again I will ask for their help in this or that and they usually come across and they do it hoping to make a sale. They know it may or may not happen but they know they have to help in order to be in line to even bid on the job. It's part of the price they know they have to pay. If you use their services make sure you repay by giving them an opportunity. That is the contract and if you violate it you are doing yourself a disservice. If the area rep. is unable to give you the help you need you can ask form him to bring in power from above. These reps, like yourself, are driven by objective. Their objective is to sell X number of units in X number of days. So they have the ability to call upon their management for assistance and will do so with the right prodding.

MILESTONES

Markets change, people's taste changes or is modified by reasons beyond your control. A salesman likes pink and the customer black. A customer's wife goes to Rio. The breeze over the Sahara is dry. A leaf falls somewhere deep in the Amazon jungle. All of these things nudge the world we work in. Your project may be right on schedule and well within budget but a change in direction is called for. At least one third of the projects I have been involved with required a change in direction somewhere along the way. In all too many cases Milestones were not included in the project and the project continued to completion only to be junked at the end because if failed to satisfy the 'new' company objectives. Let me tell you of the most painful project ever.
Three business tycoons put their money into a new venture; Parking Systems Engineering, to build a 22-car parking machine which could be installed in a 7-car spot in any alleyway from Tokyo to New York. The project leader was the new company president, son of the founder of a well-known national company. My role was to find and establish a factory from scratch. Tons of money were thrown into the project. Engineering drew sketches and my team built them and began tooling for quantity production. The prototype, a half-size unit, went together next to a subcontracting welding shop. I had 12 tool & die makers in my shop working overtime and in the new plant I was hiring people at the rate of one or two a day. Every job shop in the area was doing work for me. The prototype was going up and tooling being made. Carloads of steel were ordered from the mill. When the bandsaw was delivered and installed in the new factory the first load of bar arrived and the first machinist began cutting. The next day the turret lathe was installed and began turning the barstock prepared the previous day. The factory end of the business was on time and within budget. We were almost ready to build ten units a month with the sixty people in the plant.

But the president failed to schedule Milestones. Marketing was in New York and Los Angeles selling. Engineering was taking our parts as built to their sketches and modifying them on the spot to build the prototype. The contract weld shop was cutting and trimming to make parts fit. Another team was re-drilling and remaking parts to fit the prototype. The factory was 6 miles from the prototype and engineering personnel simply stopped coming to the factory. I was intent in tooling for economical production. This happens. It has happened again and again and for this reason if you get nothing out of this course than a sense of how important it is to put milestones for management review it will be worth your time.

The CEO was not aware that engineering changes were being made without following them through to manufacturing. Everybody was full-steam ahead on their tasks but no review was called for. When suddenly the plant was producing parts in lot sizes of 10 times the thousand or so individual pieces that went into each machine, and carloads of steel arrived only to be scrapped because they were sheared too small because engineering had changed the pan size and not put the change on the drawings the company folded and we all lost our investment.

The CEO saw himself as a role-model tycoon. He had the company pay for his speeding tickets as though they were normal business expenses. Many of us saw what was happening and urgently requested review meetings but the boss was having lunch with the governor. Everything was lost, money, time and effort... hopes future and aspirations because of the arrogance of one man. Be aware that milestones must be a part of your project. Remember, those who do not learn from the past are condemned to relive it.

A milestone is a date and time when upper management and those who are tasked with executing the project tasks come together to review not only the progress being made, but for management to inform the team on any change in direction the business is taking. It is the time when the business looks at the project to see if in fact it is the right thing to do to reach the goal. A milestone should not be a deadline or a meeting for fingerpointing as they often are. You, as you become a project leader or manager, must ensure that these milestones take place for fine tuning. It is your chance to re-listen to management. Of all the failures I have experienced in project management, either as a leader or follower, 9 of 10 have been due to this element. Failure to use milestones. Just one more example because this item must make an impression on you.

At Form Physics I recruited four soon-to-graduate Associate Engineers in Automation Technology from City College. We started on a machine which I had designed based on the requirements as seen at that time by upper management. With their blessing (an open check-book) we launched the program. The machine came together nicely. We had a controller to send individual programs to PLCs and stepper motors, to relays and heaters, to pumps and coolers, to drive motors and back. The machine could be working on one-gram sized parts and with the push of a button programmed to run half-pound parts. Each part had to be processed under very carefully detailed variables. We moved ahead and 8 hour days became 10 as with increasing enthusiasm we rushed toward deadlines. Mr. Zalkind our president and Mr. MacPhearson our Chief Scientist

The next day we gave the investors a working demonstration of the machine we had built. It was ready! But from their expressions we knew something was wrong. That afternoon, after the investors went back to Australia we were released from the company and the machine was dismantled because nobody realized, until too late, that although an excellent machine, the need for it was no longer there. Form Physics folded not long after. Management can make so many mistakes, but only so many. And not scheduling Milestone meetings where communication should have taken place was their undoing.

A Telephone, answering machine, fax and E-mail.

Add to the above a pad of paper, a 31 day folder and the appointment book, or folded paper in your shirt pocket forever.

Your first reaction to this is most likely one of wonderment; why bother writing about the obvious. Everybody knows that a telephone is essential, an answering machine nice, and of course a pad of paper. Again, this manual is the distillation of over two decades of working almost exclusively in a project oriented environment. Every 'trade' has only a few little secrets that make the job possible and keeps the competition at bay. You may wonder why lawyers make so much money with such little effort, or how movie stars get that way, or how certain ball players get the million dollar contracts. They listened well to their coaches and teachers. They took the little items that at first blush seemed so inconsequential, so obvious, so boring! and put them to work.

Time is your adversary. The boxer in the ring fights another boxer. The quarterback has his team and the opposing team. You have time, that unseen, unheard, invisible enemy. Time is also your source of wealth. Time is what you manage in order to exercise your profession and get paid. You need every tool available to win the battle against time. Most are quite simple.

Remember that having the right thing at the right place and at the right time again and again and again is the element to success? Can you remember everything that needs to be done? Every name, every milestone, every deadline, every task? Impossible. Don't even try. Instead, master the art of organizing what has to be organized and learning how to retrieve it when needed. Enter the pad of paper and 31 day folder. We call it a 'tickler' file.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. You hear it all the time: "I thought of that idea years ago and look at it now on every car you see!" And the speaker is angry, ready to go to an attorney and to sue the miscreant who 'stole' his idea. An idea is worth something only after it has come out of your head and onto a piece of paper where something can be done about it. If you are full of mechanical ideas then get a bound notebook and draw them out, date them, and describe their function. If nothing else when you do decide to act upon the idea and somebody claims prior disclosure, you can keep them from patenting the idea because you can prove an earlier date. Even without the bound notebook jot down your ideas and put them somewhere for later retrieval unless you intend to work on them at once by converting them into projects.

The pad of paper is the first letter of the book, the first look from your future spouse, the first day of the rest of your life. From this pad your future will develop. Yes, projects start with an idea EXPRESSED ON PAPER. The project as seen through your mind's eye will become reality as you define each element that goes into the project to make it real. Each element will require some action; it will be bought or made. If bought then to what specification. What makes a good part or a bad part. If made, then who will make it, where and out of what material. Why? When is the part needed to fit within the overall scheme. Who do I trust to make it happen. Before you skin the rest with the belief that since you dominate the computer and writing is for dinosaurs, think again. I am a wizard at the computer and have more software than a computer store on their shelves. But not for project management!

In terms of things, physical things, your pad of paper (one sheet folded in your pocket for when the pad is not handy) the 31 day file, the telephone and fax are your most important tools. Imagine item 4 or task 8 is to have an inspection station set-up and ready to work by the time item 5 and 9 are complete. Your target completion date is one month away, say the 30which falls on a Friday. Today is Thursday the first, giving you 22 working days in which to complete the task. You know you have dozens of other tasks, but for now focus only on this one project.

Visualize in your mind's eye the completed project; size, color, placement, people working it, material going to it and from it. As you visualize it, jot down the detail elements.

On the west wall, near the door, into the shop.

A power outlet under the table.

A granite block on steel frame.

A wall cabinet with height gage, micrometers, etc.

A trained operator

Engineering documentation source

Stuff in queue waiting for QC

Stuff in queue going into stock or assembly.

What to do with items for rework or reject

Controls.

Take a blank piece of paper and make a line for each of the things you have listed. Study and prioritize action items. Determine which will be the 'gating element' (The one with the longest lead time which will determine the earliest possible completion date).

Say, for example, the wall cabinet has to be ordered and will come, most likely, from New York. it will take two weeks in transit. The vendor will most likely take a week to process the order. To be on the safe side, you should place the order today- even if you have to guess at some of the sizes parameters.

When you call in the order write the name of the person you talked to. Get a promise date. Ask when you can call to verify the unit was shipped, when can you get the UPS shipper code. This piece of paper is not a copy of the purchase order which goes into another system and will not be available to you. The full page from the pad on which you jotted name etc. now goes into your tickler file under a number. The number is the for the day of the month some 8 working days from today.

Go to the next item on your action list and repeat the process. After a while you will have several pieces of paper in your tickler file. Each day pull the papers from your tickler, perform what has to be done, verify that the things you have done in the recent past are still in motion -- follow-through, expedite when necessary, but keep the flow on time.

Without a tickler you cannot be a project leader or manager. This procedure will force you to focus on the million action-bits that must take place and will keep you from going insane trying to remember them all. Use a paper-based tickler even though a computer may be handy. Paper allows, nay, encourages you to make little notes which because of the very nature of them being 'little' don't get put into the tube and inevitably, at some later date, one of those little notes becomes crucial to expediting the project. For example when placing the order for the cabinet the person in New York is Tammy. in the computer you will input order placed and the PO; but probably not say Tammy. When you don't receive the cabinet on time you will have to call, and of course if you don't have Tammy's name, you will be calling in vain.

Pieces of paper offer substance. When you pull the stack from your tickler, you will know at once how much work you will be doing that day and will give you a sense of urgency or a sense of 'let's take it easy today'. Further, it's generally easier to talk on the phone and write a note or two on paper rather than to type it. However, this is no big deal. Computer or paper in a tickler file, the idea is to pull up the daily to-do items and then execute them plus be able to see items done or that need further attention. When an item is crossed out it is a record of something done, whereas in the computer you must delete it and therefore lose the tracking ability a scratched item gives.

Computer software such as Timeline and Softkey's Project Manager Pro are very valuable if you are required to make a lot of reports. Otherwise the tickler file and a graphed outline of your project on your wall is enough to maintain control. Computer software will require that at the end of each day you pull up your project and edit each task that you have had anything to do during the period from the last update. This can be time consuming and produces not a single thing toward meeting schedule. If you have the luxury of a secretary then it would behoove you have them do this task. Let me illustrate the cost in manpower and time that reports can cost. Consider first of all that a project engineer earns no less than five times salary and often as much as 500 times salary in creating revenue producing systems. Pay an engineer $75,000 a year to create a workcenter that with 50 people will save 3 million a year; then 3 million divided by 75,000 is forty times that one year salary and the factory will produce at that rate for five, ten or twenty years. Conservatively then, a project engineer should be generating revenues at least $1000 an hour or more for the company. Take an organization with 20 project engineers and two of them are writing reports and plotting charts for the rest. They are not adding anything even though they could. But as far as management is concerned, they are earning their pay by documenting the work of others. Question: In what class of company is this example happening?

Being aware of these real-life situations will give you a 'heads-up' awareness that could easily keep you from being eaten alive.

On Reports and Meetings.

Most often, in larger companies, project reviews take place weekly. This is from a sense of insecurity on management's part since few projects progress in neat weekly or daily time-tables. In fact, you, being aware of milestones, will see at once that regularly scheduled 'progress' meetings do nothing to speed or lubricate the project. Milestones are essential but they are scheduled to take place at certain points during the project and for very specific reasons. Otherwise meetings are nothing more than places where management can be seen by other managers and this tends to make the organization a Class 2 operation. Do what you can to avoid falling into the trap of frequent reports and meetings. You, as the project manager, know when you need to call on management for assistance. Otherwise tell them to leave you alone. With very few exceptions, meetings to review projects are not only a waste of time, they detract from the objective, and if you believe in your worth and the worth of other engineers or project leaders then you will be reluctant to see over $1000 an hour tossed to the wind per person in a meeting.

Project leaders assume the role of leaders. You don't need to have a group of people sitting around listening to other people fumble through an explanation of what they are doing. You do it on a one to one basis and you tell each and every one what has to be known in order to proceed. When milestones are scheduled each participant has an agenda which the project leader initiates. On top of the list is the project leaders summary of the project's direction and what it is expected to do for the business. This should be an attention getter for upper management. Sometimes it can be a rude awakening.

Remember that a project was born of an apparent need sometime in the past. Many things happen in the meantime. Market, engineering breakthroughs, new technology, new direction and so forth. Most organizations do not communicate well internally. The boss can go off on a tangent and not let the troops know. When your project is moving along on schedule it could be the cause of the end of the business if course corrections did not take place. How many times have you seen it in movies where the secret agent is given the assignment to murder a key diplomat only to see a reversal in policy and they forget to tell the killer of the new direction.

Champion/Sponsor . . . Upper Management Support

Go directly to upper management for their support and you will most likely be terminated for insubordination in a Class 2 company. Even in a Class 1 company there are cautions you must be aware of. Even when a company openly promotes "Open Door" policy you still work for a supervisor or manager and they may feel threatened if you take advantage of the policy. Let me illustrate.
While working in Tijuana in the Plantronics plant I reported to Randy Hall in the main plant in Santa Cruz. His boss was Carlos Garner who reported to Smits the president who reported to the CEO in San Jose. We were a special 'attack' team put together to transfer a lab technology from Switzerland to the Mexican plant. When the project bore it's first fruit Randy accepted an offer from another company and so did Smits. Blindly, not knowing big company politics, I went directly to the new president with the idea for a project which would bring the Mexican operation into true world-class operations. Shortly thereafter I was given my walking papers because "The project you were hired to do has been completed and we no longer need an American in the Mexican plant." Later I was told by a Sta. Cruz engineer that it was because I went directly to the president. Not that the plan was no good, just that I broke the chain of command. Without the support from the original team those who remain will be cut from the organization. Be aware of this and do what Randy did. He saw Smits take credit for the technical transfer, saw him get a better job and did it also. I think he tried to warn me but my ego was too thick to see the danger; after all, I had hands-on brought a 2.5 million dollar a year cost reduction to fruit. Hero one day, gone the next.

At Caterpillar's Solar Division in San Diego the oil embargo then the oil glut threw the business into a nose-dive. Reorganization appeared to be the solution. Hanson, Solar's president ordered middle management layoffs. During the musical chairs I approached Ruel Patterson, VP of Operations with the project idea of saving 25 million a year through improving operator and manufacturing engineering skills and that I could do it at no cost to Solar; through State funding. I only saw him once, got the green light and started. As I began executing the project everybody knew I was to be left alone. With the aura of his name around me I was able to set it into motion and today the project is a kind of landmark.

Some people may take offense at the repeated use of personal anecdotes to illustrate these key points. Learning occurs only when experiences are shared. Project Management within the manufacturing organization is a fairly new tool. Invented by Imhotep some 2,000 BC, refined to an art by H.J. Kaiser and later Boeing, it is only in the last 20 years that individuals within large organizations began using it. It is a very effective tool and yields high visibility to those who execute them. You must be aware that organization for organization's sake is more important to more people than bottom line results.

Sponsor/Champion relationships can develop through professional society meetings and other networking opportunities. Many people join the National Management Association or the Society of Manufacturing Engineers or like societies in order to meet upper management people informally where a casual statement could lead to support. You must look, listen and feel the climate where you work and wiggle your way through the politics to get your support. Nobody can do it for you. If anybody has a chance to meet upper management they will sell themselves, not you. It's a dog eat dog situation but being aware of it will force you to gather the right tools and ammunition to get the job done.

REVIEW:

Jot your ideas down on a piece of paper. If mechanical, then draw it in a bound notebook and date it. Please see appendix for a brief checklist of the 8 steps toward Continuous Process Improvement.

What benefit will the idea yield. Cost reduction? Throughput Improvement? Increased quality or safety? By how much in Dollars.

What is the earliest date for completion possible. What is the gating or pacing element; the one that will take the longest time.

Draw a time-map of the project.

What key tasks must take place and at what points on the time-map.

Where should you place Milestones for management review.

What resources will you need. Jot them down on a separate piece of paper under the Task name. Draw a time-map for each task.

Your first action will result in the need for follow-up of some kind. Start your tickler file.

Start your personnel directory. Do what Mr. Phelpps did in the original Mission Impossible series; look for qualified people from your acquaintances and co-workers. Identify the qualifications of each player. List them as well as the cash resources you will have to put together to bring the project to life.

Consider your work environment. Class 1 or Class 2. Do you have a sponsor? What can you do to get one? Do you need one?

List the resources you have and make a list of resources you will need to develop. By when? Everything you write from now on will have three attributes: Name of the action, resources needed to do it, and when it must be done. Control the time through your tickler.

Make sure management is scheduled for your milestone review dates.

Are they in town? Will they be?

Never assume that things will get done simply because you have delegated them. If you don't show your interest from time to time they won't think you are interested enough and therefore why should they be interested? Follow through... often!

When the project is started by your management you should do what has been described only you will add a few elements.

· More Reports & Charts

· More milestones and meetings.

CAUTION: When you receive instructions to perform a project, small or large, make sure you write it down and then resubmit to originator for confirmation.

This will do two things. It will ensure that you have understood exactly what is wanted. It will protect you later when, if no milestone meetings were held to fine-tune the project in accordance with the business objectives, you will have a wee bit of a defense. Once in writing, it makes it much easier to negotiate change as required. Every project starts with a high degree of optimism and as it moves along it gains recognition for either being a total dud or being the podium from which promotions will be made. Sharing the podium will be a function of Class 1 or Class 2 environment. Most often your management will take the credit if it's good or give you credit if it's a dud. Remember that being aware is key to your getting prepared. Either to re-write your resume, or be recognized for the quality person that you are and rewarded accordingly.

Final note -- delegation

As project leader, as a friend getting others involved in your project, selling your idea to an associate, will require a process known as delegation. You may not want to call it delegation since it implies handing down tasks, but the principles are what you need to learn. There are six very important and essential steps to any delegation process.

1- You explain the desired end result of the effort, not the details of how it will be done

2- You discuss recourses and determine who and how they will be gotten
3- You discuss a time frame in which the task will be accomplished. The other person must buy in to the time constraint.

4- You determine a measurable from which both will agree if the project has been satisfactorily completed

5- You now get the other person to repeat everything in point one through four to make sure there is common understanding - feedback.

6- What will be the other person's reward for having successfully completed the task. Will you 'owe' them a big one? Will you write a letter to insert into their resume? Etc.