Project

Long time readers may recall how I despise adore PMP certification, but I'm still going through the process. And there is a new twist, PMBOK Version 4 has been released. If you have not taken the PMP exam by now, chances are you will be tested on the latest version. So a discussion of what has changed is in order.

The place to start with anything is understanding what was the intent. This can conveniently be found in the project charter. And the PMBOK v4 tells us what they were after:

• Remove conflicts with other PMI standards
• Clarify writing style
• Research use of life cycles based on current usage
• Clarify Process Groups and Processes through deletion, combination, or addition
• Update Knowledge Areas.

It sounds like a modest set of things to achieve. And, because the work is performed by volunteers, this is to be expected. In fact, I predict that the current structure and concept of the PMBOK is going to be calcified for at least a couple more versions until it becomes obvious that it is broken, or at least no longer describes the Project Management Body of Knowledge. This is not a bad thing, it is just the way things go.

With those goals in mind, what are the actual changes? The Preface tells us that the major changes are:

• Process name syntax now all verb-noun (consistency being a hobgoblin...)
• A standard approach to discussing enterprise environmental factors and organizational process assets was employed. (I'm not sure what this means. We will have to read it to find out)
• Same thing but for requested changes, preventative and corrective actions and defect repairs. (um... I get everything after the standard approach to discussing part...)
• Some changes in processes (No comment. Just remember that today's processes may suffer the same fate)
• Plan vs. Documents differentiated. (Good luck!)

So, some modest goals and modest changes. This is good news for people trying to pass the PMP exam. No major changes and none of them appear to be substantial. Next episode will dig in and see what these changes really are and whether they need addressing.

See the whole series on passing the PMP exam here

Well, with that introduction, I thought I'd begin an occasional series on the state of the Project, Program and Portfolio software world. If you have a favorite tool you would like to read about or some other thoughts on the world of scheduling technology, drop me a comment.

After that last post things were looking a bit dry around here. So this shot of Mossbrae Falls near Mount Shasta which I took in April should do the trick.

The key points: 64-bit only running on 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2 with a 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit SQL Server 2005 to hold the databases.
IE 7 or IE8 as the browser - IE6 is being dropped in July 2010.
(Update: Just noted that IE ONLY is supported by Project Server 2010. Sharepoint Server will be supporting "other" browsers (Firefox and Safari) but it does not appear that cross-browser support will be in Project. See Christophe Fiessinger's Blog )

As most people know, Project Server runs right on top of Sharepoint server, so the same requirements which were announced a couple of days ago for Sharepoint Server apply to Project Server. You can read the details and the QA here: http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/05/07/announcing-sharepoint-server-2010-preliminary-system-requirements.aspx

So far I've seen nothing public about other requirements, but I'd guess that for features such as visual reports that Excel 2003 and Visio 2003 would probably drop off the supported filetype list in this next version and that it would work best with Office 2010.

The latest news is that the next version of Microsoft Office Project will be with Office 2010 which will be released, quite coincidentally, in the first half of 2010. According to Microsoft's Chris Capossela:

We’re announcing that Microsoft will begin releasing new versions of Office-related products this year. Exchange 2010 will be the first product in this lineup, entering beta for customers to download today. Exchange 2010 will become available in the second half of 2009. Office 2010 — including Office Web applications, SharePoint Server 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 — will enter a technical preview in the third quarter of 2009 and will release to manufacturing in the first half of 2010.

The Technical Preview for Project Server is usually restricted to mostly larger customers and Partners, but I'm hopeful that desktop users get some sort of preview as well. I can't say much about it, but I am certain that Project 2010 introduces the most ambitious changes on the desktop since Project 98.

The big unknown with 2010 is how well the move to software as a service will go. Sharepoint 2010 is supposed to be able to be offered as a service, but does this mean that the applications which ride on top of it (Microsoft Project for example) are going to be hosted by Microsoft as well? Are enough people willing to buy it?

Project's prospects are also tied up in the latest Office Service Pack. Word on the streets and the blogs is that Office 2007 Service Pack 2 will be out on April 28th. I'm trying to remember all of what is in SP2, but I am drawing a blank. No doubt some of the things which are still broken will be fixed and some of the things which are still working will be broken... (if history is any guide). Always test before rolling out!.

Update: This post has some vague details to refresh my memory. They are getting better at Service Packs I think...

The scheduling engine, Active Cache, and Gantt charts all have improvements. There is additional reliability with earlier versions of the .mpp format.

This study from Deloitte suggests that survivor bias and a lack of rigor discredit the "research" in books like "In Search of Excellence" and "Good to Great".

Link: http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_consulting_persistencerandomsearchfor_April2009.pdf

They claim that "success studies tend to rely exclusively on intuition to justify the noteworthiness" of the companies which are studied and go on and provide a pretty easy to understand explanation of why what is presented as the secret of success in innumerable business books is really no more significant than seeing "Elvis in a slice of pound cake" Mmmmmm.... pound cake...

Sure, they are shilling for their own research, but it is definitely worth a read. I've seen all sorts of organizations try to claim success as due to their particular efforts - sometimes to laughable levels which I can't repeat, but if you are a consumer of business practices or business "research" it is a necessary read. Snake-oil salesmen may be well intentioned, but sometimes they are just plain wrong.

As an aside, often I don't get a chance to read some of the more popular business books until their fad has passed. More often than not, the tide has turned on a number of the companies profiled and they have fallen from greatness. The lesson learned: life is fleeting. Make what you can from it while you can.

At a recent event I looked through all the pictures on my camera. It turns out that my 9 year old is better than me. I THINK this is a good thing, but I'm not so sure..

This is a shot he took at Drake's Bay which is part of the Point Reyes National Seashore. Even being on the lee side of Point Reyes, the wind was fierce and left heavy objects standing on the surface of the sand. Drake's Bay is reputed to be where Sir Francis Drake landed his ship the "Golden Hinde" in 1579. When I was younger, there was a brass plate which was supposedly left by Drake claiming California for England. It was later found to be a hoax perpetrated by E Clampus Vitus and the identies of the culprits were revealed in 2003.

As an aside, Pt. Reyes is part of the Pacific plate and is sliding North along the North American plate. The border between them comprises the San Andreas Fault.

Migrating from previous versions of Project to newer ones has always been difficult. The change from Project Server 2003 to Project Server 2007 is probably the most difficult so far, and until now you have been on your own figuring it out. A lot of sleepless nights have been acrued.

But if you have not migrated yet (and you will have to fairly soon as support for Project Server 2003 fades away) you are fortunate to have a new guide to help you through it. Microsoft has enlisted Quantum PM to put together this free guide to making a successful migration. It runs to 47 pages, so it will take some reading time. After the link you will find the table of contents.

Click here to go to the download site: Best Practices for Migrating to Project Server 2007

INTRODUCTION

PLANNING YOUR MIGRATION PROJECT
Envision Success for Your Business Goals
Reasons to Migrate
Business Goals
Technology Improvements
Use Public Resources
Microsoft Project Server 2007 Web Links
Use a Formal Schedule for Your Migration
Gold Certified Partners
Pick Your Team
Migration Team
End User Team
Analyze Project Server 2007 Features and Business Impacts
Conduct a Review of Project Server 2007 Architecture and Features
Evaluate Project Server 2007 Technology Features
Determine Business Process Impacts
Develop a Formal Project Plan for Your Migration
Scope Definition Statement
Roles and Responsibilities
Migration Sponsors
Risks, Issues, and Change Control
Communications Plan
Quality Test and Validation Plan
Schedule of Events

PERFORMING YOUR READINESS ASSESSMENT
Perform Your Current State Business Process Assessment
Review Recent Use of Project Server 2003
Identify Custom Interfaces for Project Server 2003
Identify Custom Reports for Project Server 2003
Review the Project Server 2007 Platform Capabilities and Potential Uses
Prepare For Changes to Project and Resource Management
Project Scheduling and Project Web Access (PWA) Changes
Proposals and Activity Plans
Saved Links Not Available in Project Server 2007
Project Server 2003 Versions Not Available in Project Server 2007
Resource Management Changes
Resource Management Capabilities in Project Web Access
Resource Plans
Team Resources
Budget and Cost Resources
Status Report Migration Considerations
Preparing For Changes to Time and Task Update Processes
Differences Between Project Server 2003 and Project Server 2007 Timesheets
Project Server 2003 Administrative Plans versus Project Server 2007 Administrative Time
Project Server 2003 Historical Time Tracking Data
Planning For Timesheet Migration
Planning For Reporting Changes and Enhanced Capabilities
Project Professional 2007 Visual Reports
Project Web Access Data Analysis Views
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)
Office SharePoint Server Excel Services

PLANNING AND PREPARING YOUR TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT
Verify that computers meet hardware and software requirements
Confirm licensing and media
Confirm IT Staffing Availability and Training Needs
Install Project Server 2007 Environments

ANALYZING AND CLEANSING YOUR PROJECT SERVER 2003 DATA
Perform Data Analysis to Determine Quality of the Data for Migration
Archive or Delete Project Schedules and Workspaces
Analyze Project Schedules
Validate Project Server 2003 Configuration Settings and Data
Validate Users and Resources
Validate Enterprise Global Custom Fields
Validate Security Templates, Groups, Categories
Validate Security Group and Category Members
Validate Views and the Associated Security Categories
Document the Pre-Migration Corrective Action Plan
Immediate Actions
Postponed Actions

PLANNING FOR THE MIGRATION PROCESS AND CONTINGENCIES
Pre-Migration Planning and Documentation Checklist
Pre-Migration Training
Pre-Migration Checklist
Server Information
Database Information
Migration Account Verification Information
Migration Tool and Project Server 2007 Version Verification
Perform data analysis on your existing Project Server 2003 data.
Run a Pre-Migration Verification Test
Data Analysis Queries and Corrective Actions
Contingency Planning
Perform a Test Migration

PERFORMING THE MIGRATION AND POST-MIGRATION ACTIVITIES
Pre-Migration
Update the Enterprise Global file to reflect new objectives and processes
Update or Re-engineer the RBS
Update or Re-engineer User Access and the Project Security Model
Perform a final Project Server 2003 data clean-up, verification and backup
Perform a final Windows SharePoint Services data clean-up, verification and backup
Migration
Prepare for the Migration
Enterprise Global Data Migration
Project Data Migration
Roll back Migration
Post-Migration

PREPARING FOR CHANGES TO TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS OPERATIONAL POLICIES
Project Server Technical Operations and Maintenance
Protecting Your Information Assets
Technical Operations and Maintenance Schedule
Project Server Applications Operations and Maintenance
Security
Enterprise Data
Enterprise Global
Timesheet Management
Reporting
Database Object Administration

I usually mark the Spring Equinox on my blog. This year I missed it. Where I live Spring is most definitely here and I'm obviously late. So I'm setting the clock back to winter (February to be exact) and will catch up to spring very soon.

Nothing like a foot or two of snow to make winter seem right.

I was logging in to the library to find a book this morning and the first thing I saw was this page touting bankruptcy, foreclosure, healthcare and legal assistance - was this the work of a hacker?.

No, not at all, but this is a big change from what used to be a page with links to upcoming events, fund-raisers and general library promotions. It is interesting to see this transformation to a more active role in solving people's problems.

I've been lucky to have spent time in some rather nice libraries over the years and especially over the past couple of decades I have wondered if they would survive due to the widespread availability of information over the internet, but seeing the resurgence of libraries in my local area and the more social role they are taking, it seems that they are adapting to that change just fine.

Here is the new San Mateo City Library building. It replaced a concrete bunker of a library that was on the same site since the 70's. Support your local library! I do my part through overdue book fines :-)

Having a client request that you are on-site at 7:00 AM has its upside. I may see the sunrise someday soon and there is little traffic. In the SF Bay Area, the latter means a lot. The shot above is one I took of the Bay Bridge in the pre-dawn hours.

I just ran into someone having trouble making a custom formula in Microsoft Project. They were adding a duration to a date by using a + sign. For example:

The result they got was years in the future and was unexpected. The reason for this is that Duration is stored in minutes. The duration of an 8 hour day is 480. Dates, like Finish1, are stored as a serial number which is counting from 1/1/1900, making today 39842. When you add those two numbers together, each minute is treated as a day.

Fortunately MS Project has some functions which will do the date math for you. DateAdd will do simple date addition, and ProjDateAdd will do date addition with any of the Project calendars taken into account. If you have a duration of 5 days stored in the Duration1 field and today is Thursday, then the different functions would give the following results:

Now()+[Duration1] would give a date about 7 years from now.

DateAdd( "d", 5, now()) will give a date five days from today (Tuesday).

ProjDateAdd(Now(),[Duration1],"Standard") would give a date one work week from today. (Thursday)

With the current economic situation examples of government public works projects such as the WPA (Works Progress Administration) are in the air and it got me thinking about what the biggest benefits of such projects are. It seems to me that the most lasting impact is on public infrastructure, things like dams and roads that enable everyone to progress, but which would not be possible unless some central organization provided them.

I think the same thing is true of PMO's. The biggest value they can provide is infrastructure, whether that be well-trained people, processes or technologies which will enable projects to progress smoothly and efficiently.

However, the comparison between PMO's and government agencies brings up the inevitable question of bureaucracy and efficiency. What is the right size of a PMO? Too large and it creates its own gravitational field. Too small and it is not capable of building essential infrastructure. I think the solution to this project is to keep as much of the PMO work project-based, with the projects it is undertaking being defined by the organization it is supporting.

The PMO needs to be able to grow and shrink as needs change and needs to be vigilant that they are not just doing projects to have something to do. They have to be aware of the fine line of providing lasting value rather than just making work. Look at what your PMO is doing and see which activities it is undertaking which will actually help the organizations you support. The PMO should build and maintain infrastructure. Nothing more. Nothing less.

That truck has fire shooting out the back because it is a Yaki Imo truck and is roasting sweet potatoes. This one happened to be driving around Tokyo so you don't see the man standing outside his truck hawking them with a characteristic Yaki Imo cry. If you google Yaki imo you can probably find an audio file of it. The yaki imo truck is pretty similar in concept to ice cream trucks except that they serve something hot rather than cold and their product is more rustic and hand-made.

Roasted sweet potatoes are quite delicious. You can see a pile of the raw reddish/purple ones just in front of the oven (under the scale). They also are an illustration of the reverence that Japan has for food. I don't think in the US that they would allow this sort of truck with open flames driving around the streets, and even though Japan is in many ways more safety conscious than the US, they appear to make exceptions where food is involved.

I'll have more and better examples of some of the variety of Japanese food as I work my way through the photos I took in the last few weeks, so treat this one as just a snack or a warm-up

Just a warning about special characters. Don't use them if you want your Project Server Analysis views to work correctly:

Avoid all of these:

Data source
: / \ * | ? " () [] {} <>
Level
. , ; ' ` : / \ * | ? " & % $ ! - + = [] {}
Dimension
, ; ' ` : / \ * | ? " & % $ ! - + = () [] {}
All other objects
. , ; ' ` : / \ * | ? " & % $ ! - + = () [] {}