Traditional business
schools teach their students about finances and accounting. When I
obtained my business degree, I had not even heard of Project Management or
Earned Value. Those words were not spoken in my degree program. So,
imagine my surprise when I was hired as a Project Controls Engineer straight
out of college. Earned Value is performance?? What does that have
to do with the bottom line and accounting, I wondered? What is this
performance stuff they are talking about? How do we measure it? And
I had no idea that Project Management was any different than traditional
business models. I had a lot to learn, to say the least!
Once I was thrown into
this world and learned all about those topics, I began to see the value of
these approaches and could not believe that I had been duped by my
university! Shame on them for not teaching me about these wonderful
tools! Then I found out that the “science” of Project Management and
Earned Value was relatively new, comparatively speaking. So I forgave
them. And pursued my Master’s of Science in Project Management from a
university that knew a thing or two about it.
Many managers have not
been so lucky. They still think in terms of traditional business models
and haven’t been exposed to Project Management and Earned Value. The
concepts are not always intuitive and they feel foreign in comparison to the
rest of the business tools taught. So, as a Project Controls Engineer or
Project Manager, you will have to educate them and show them the value of these
“new” tools. But there’s a catch: You don't want management to just
buy-in to EVM. You want them to DRIVE it. It must become ingrained
in the culture for it to work properly. Simply "supporting" EVM
does nothing in the grand scheme and it will ultimately fail to impact business
decisions. That means inspiring a certain level of passion in the
department and senior managers. Find a manager that can act as your
advocate; one with enough clout to influence the other managers. Inspire
this person or group of people by presenting the value of Earned Value over
traditional spending variances and business models. Demonstrate the
impacts of the early warning signs indicated by Earned Value—which will
directly affect their bottom line. Then show them which companies and
industries have adopted it, and the requirements for it on certain government
contracts. Finally, come up with a business plan for implementing an EVMS
that is timely and cost effective. Do your research, find the most
appropriate software for your business needs, and make it clear the return on
investment is so great that they can’t possibly say no.
And
if you don’t succeed the first time, give it some time and try again.
Maybe a new manager will come in and you can persuade him or her. In the
meantime, develop some of your own rudimentary Earned Value metrics and talk
about them in your project status meetings. Don’t be afraid to ask Earned
Value related questions, such as “How much work has been completed for the
money we’ve spent?” and “How much work was supposed to have been completed by
now?” Eventually, someone will take notice and realize they cannot answer
those questions with empirical evidence, and that you just might be on to
something. That’s when you kick open the door and show them what Earned Value Management can do for them.
Post your comments about your experiences with implementing an Earned Value program. How have you "managed up" in the past? What are your experiences with convincing management to start using EVM?
Our next post looks at obtaining EVMS compliance when management can't even spell EVM.
- Melissa Duncan (About Melissa)
Read the previous posting The Five Key Ingredients for Successful Automation of EV
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