Introduction to Public Safety Project Management. Table of Contents. Introduction to Public Safety Project Management

Transcription

1 Introduction to Public Safety Project Management Introduction to Public Safety Project Management Table of Contents Introduction to Public Safety Project Management... 2 What is Project Management... 3 Accidental Project Manager... 6 Public Safety Project Management Public Safety Project Management (con't) Public Safety Project Management (con't) Project Management Statistics Page 1 of 21

2 Introduction to Public Safety Project Management **015 Bonnie Maney: We went over the introduction material: Why we're here; the goals and objectives; why everything is important that we learn about this topic. Page 2 of 21

3 What is Project Management **016 And now we're going to ask a question: What is project management? What is a project? Student: Any endeavor to create a product, service or an end result. Bonnie Maney: Okay. Right, It has a beginning, an end and a unique product that is derived from those activities during that time. And it's a temporary endeavor. Projects do not go on forever; okay, let me say Page 3 of 21

4 that, they may feel like they go on forever. They may go on for 10 years. But at some point the project does have an endpoint where it goes into more support and maintenance type of a role; more of a lifecycle process at that point. So it's a temporary endeavor. What's a project manager? Student: Someone that oversees that project. Bonnie Maney: That's right. Okay. Student: A goat herder. Bonnie Maney: Student: Bonnie Maney: A goat herder. Okay. The person that is assigned by the organization to achieve the project outcomes; whatever that might be. It may seem that those project objectives are always shifting; especially over the life of a long project. Right? Maybe you have a different administration, different executive sponsors. But there's ways to manage all of that. Okay? So that's what the project manager does is they manage all the expectations and-- to achieve that project objective. Page 4 of 21

5 Project management, what is that? Anybody? Student: It's the applications of knowledge skills and tools and techniques to accomplish a goal of project activities. Bonnie Maney: Okay. Student: Using what we're learning today to do it right. Bonnie Maney: Right. So it's taking the book knowledge, the practical knowledge, combining everything that you've got-- those skills and tools-- and managing maybe not just one project but maybe multiple projects in more of a program type environment. But you need the knowledge, you need the skills, you need the tools to be able to manage a project. We've all done the fly by the seat of the pants thing. All right? And that can work. Page 5 of 21

6 Accidental Project Manager **017 And we're going to talk about that exactly right now. Who has ever been an accidental project manager? Everybody's hands probably go up. Well an accidental project manager is the person that they may feel like they're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You're walking down the hallway and you hear, "Hey Dave, come in here for a second." You know? Or, "G.E., can you come see me at three o'clock? I need to talk to you about something." And you're going, "Oh I want to run Page 6 of 21

7 the other way because I know what's coming," you go in there and you get assigned some project. And maybe you don't know really anything about that project. But it's new, and somebody has to do it. And Paul, you're on vacation. So I couldn't tag you for it. And John, well you're just not ever here; so I don't ever see you. You're always the one walking around with the paper and the pen and the clipboard looking busy. So I know you got too much on your plate; I can't give it to you. So Dave, you were walking down the hall. I heard you; and you're it. Now there's sometimes reasons that you're also picked for that. It may not just be you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could be that you've demonstrated experience with some past projects. So maybe you don't have the book educational side of it but you have some experience with similar projects. Maybe you're a leader amongst your subordinates or your peers. You're a good coordinator; attention to detail. All of these things are skills that a project manager needs. Okay? So that could also be a reason that you'reyou've been tagged, you got called into the office. What are some other things that you guys have felt that have-- why you've Page 7 of 21

8 been selected as a project manager; even though you're not in a project management office or you're working there with everybody else? What are some other things? Why do you feel you were tagged? Student: Well in my case, one that I just turned around they said, "Okay, you're in charge of this." It's not my primary duty. But I guess certain knowledge and skills put me in that position. Student: General expertise. Student: And a lot of our organizations are fairly small. So that if you've got any knowledge or expertise you can get tagged quickly. Bonnie Maney: Right, small organization, having to wear many hats. Okay. Anything else? Student: You identify the problem or bring it to their attention and you already have the interest in it. Bonnie Maney: Right. You've shown that initiative. You're the one that brings it up; so you'll be the one to solve it. Okay. Anything else? Any other reasons why you may have been selected to manage a project? Student: Ability to learn stuff quickly. Page 8 of 21

9 Bonnie Maney: Okay; flexibility, adaptability. Okay. Anything else? All right, those are great. And if you look at the job description of the project manager that we talked about in the toolkit, - if you look through that list you're probably going to see some of those attributes that you were talking about. Now from a project management perspective or a project manager's perspective, knowing those things that you're going to have to be responsible for, that job description can help you out. It's also helpful that if you find yourself-- maybe at some point if you're in a supervisory role that being aware of those job descriptions and those attributes can help you better select a project manager. So that might be something you want to share with your executive sponsors, that list too, so that they can from the get-go when they're assigning that person know what attributes and skills and abilities they should be looking for. This training, this type of training, can also help not be so much of an accidental project manager; because here's where you're getting, like you said, the skills and the tools to be able to do that job better. Page 9 of 21

10 Public Safety Project Management **018 Public Safety Project Management. These are some of the things that-- just quick little examples-- that you probably face in public safety. Building a building; we have a communications center being built. Right? Or a renovation. You might be building a fire station or upgrading a different building's infrastructure. It may be something more on meetings. You may have your statewide radio project or something that you're working on; a lot of administrative components to that. Page 10 of 21

11 You may be upgrading anything to do with your telephones and your dispatch. MDCs or mobile data terminals or computers in the vehicles is another one. And just basic backroom technology, equipment upgrades; that kind of thing as well. But is public safety project management different? That's the question. A lot of people in private sector would say no, it's not. There's the canons of project management, and that's the same across the board. And in a lot of parts that's true. There is a lot of similarities. But there are some things that may be a little bit more emphasized or a little bit more risky when it comes to public safety; when we're managing these. Student: Lives are in danger when it comes to public safety though. Page 11 of 21

12 Public Safety Project Management (con't) **019 Bonnie Maney: Absolutely. And that's one of the biggest things when we talk about is there really a difference; is it unique? First of all, it is the 24/7/365 nature of the job. Student: You can't shut it down at the end of the day and fix it and then bring it back up in the morning. Bonnie Maney: Absolutely; can't do that. The public wouldn't like that. That doesn't fly very well. Okay? Maybe a building in the private sector, if they're doing renovations or Page 12 of 21

13 they're doing work, they can close down; they may open late, close early. There's a lot of things that you can do. Here we cannot do that. When I was doing a PSAP renovation, we actually had to figure out where are we going to move all of our consoles and our telephones. We had to redo a break room so that we could move everybody in there temporarily, gut the room and then bring every piece in, one by one. So at certain points we were actually working out of two separate locations. But we had to be able to provide, not only to the residents of the community, but also to our field personnel their services 24/7/365. Mission-critical nature; voice and data. Lives are at stake. That is important. It doesn't happen like that in most of the other private sector, or even public sector, jobs. Broad geographic scope. Not everything just happens in the building. Now we're talking about national broadband networks, and we want statewide radio systems, and all of these things. We're talking about miles and miles and miles of terrain. And now you got all the rural areas that need to be covered as well; the technology and everything that needs Page 13 of 21

14 to take place to do all of that. We're just not talking about covering a building. Federal grant funding requirements. And these funding, they have deadlines. You can get extensions maybe here and there but there's deadlines. Student: And reporting requirements. Bonnie Maney: Reporting requirements; very specific-- Student: Audit requirements. Bonnie Maney: Auditing requirements. What you have now when you first get the grant, what's in scope, may not be what the technology and everything that you can get when you actually get the funding to be able to start the project. Increased diversity of stakeholders. Everybody's got to play with each other in the sandbox; and there's a lot of sandboxes when we're talking about public safety. You know? It depends on what your project entails. But you can have everything from your residents, your-- you got the public, the media. You can have EMS, fire, law enforcement, communications. You can have any Page 14 of 21

15 of the non-governmental groups that are out there; that are maybe in Emergency Management. So you could have Red Cross. You've got your vendors. There's-- you can just go on and on. What are some of the unique maybe stakeholders that you guys deal with that I haven't already mentioned? Any other ones that we normally wouldn't think of? Student: You've got an accountability piece when you're dealing with public funds that you don't have when you're dealing with private funds. And then your last bullet, media attention; that draws additional scrutiny on projects. Bonnie Maney: Yes. Student: I think it's another factor in some of these. And then that takes into why do they need to do this; what's the benefit to the citizens, and so on. Bonnie Maney: So you have to justify that business case. And we'll talk about that business case later on as well. Okay. Media attention. Media; friend and foe. Right? How you feed the animal, for media. And when it comes to them though, they Page 15 of 21

16 can really easily take a project and run in whatever direction they think is going to make their news. That's their job. So there's a lot of media attention on these projects. Public Safety Project Management (con't) **020 So some other ones. The sensitive nature of public safety data. It's not for the general public to know everything that comes through Public Safety. Right? There's personal information in there, medical information, information; wants and warrants and all that kind of information that's being shared. Got Page 16 of 21

17 to make sure-- it's okay if it's shared within Public Safety but general public doesn't have access or shouldn't have access. So the security part of it is really important. Special regulations for justice information. There's some other things out there regarding the justice side. Shift work. How do you plan a project around that shift work? What if you have people on your project team that are working weekends, midnight shift; that need to be trained? How do you incorporate all of that into your project? Anybody here work anything- any shifts other than Monday through Friday, or had experience managing a project in this way? It's not always easy as the project manager to deal with those shift issues. You may-- you're not their supervisor. How do you get them to be able to participate? Public tax dollars. We're in the middle of that in some areas-- well nationwide right now, all in the news. That's always an iffy one. And we got to make sure everything is accounted for. And then life safety. It cannot be over-emphasized, the life Page 17 of 21

18 safety/property protection aspect of public safety. Project Management Statistics **021 Some statistics for you. This is where we go back again, why is this important? Well we just had all of those what makes it somewhat unique. But what percentage of projects fail? Now when I mean 'fail' I mean they got started but they got abandoned or cancelled. So what percentage of projects do you think fail? Page 18 of 21

19 Student: A fourth. Bonnie Maney: A fourth? Twentyfour percent. Student: Bonnie Maney: What percentage of projects are successful? And when we mean 'successful' we mean they came in on time, within scope, on budget, with all the technical and functional requirements that were in the contract. Student: About a third. Bonnie Maney: About a third? Thirty-two percent. Right on target. Now here's the one that people kind are of like, "Well challenged, every project has challenges; every project has roadblocks and speed bumps of some sort." But when we talk about challenged projects, we're talking about they get finished, but somewhere along that continuum, whether it be time, cost, scope, it was off. Maybe they were over-budget; they went longer than expected; a little scope creep came on in there. Right? Something happened that the project was challenged, but ultimately it was completed. So what percentage there are we looking at? Page 19 of 21

20 Student: The rest. Bonnie Maney: Right? Forty-four percent. Where we get this from is there's a group out there called the Standish Group. Back in 1985 they started. They're out of Boston Mass, and they specialize in studying IT statistics and such; and every two years they put out something called the Chaos Report. And these are statistics from there. Now there is another one: ZDNet. They just put out some figures in 2011 that says 37% of projects fail--, not a nice little 24%; 37% fail. So this is important. Especially when budgets and funding and everything is getting tighter and tighter, people are expected to do more with less. And this graph here-- it's an older graphic but it still probably percentage wise relates. About 52% of projects will cost 189% of total original cost. Because-- and we'll get into what we're talking about when we talk about cost. Right now your head's going, "Oh my gosh, that's a great big number." But when we start talking about what really goes into costs, you can really see how quickly that can all add up if you don't put cost measures in place. Forty-two percent; large Page 20 of 21

21 organizations only net 42% of original features and functions-- really what you wanted. You know? And I know there's situations that happen where okay, this is what we're going to put in; it's all put in the contract. But then that's all that gets put in. You get something else. How do-- that all runs up that number. Thirty-two percent of IT projects cancelled before completion. Now that's kind of in line with what we were already talking about. We said 32%; and that's 31. And then 16% of the large-scale projects are completed on time and within budget; only 16%. So this is really-- we really need to learn some ways to manage projects. And a lot of that is because we do find ourselves in those accidental project manager roles. Public Safety itself doesn't have a lot of the Project Management Offices. A lot of times it says: Other duties as assigned. So because that's the nature of the job though, we just don't throw up our hands and say, "Oh we can't do anything about it." We can do something about it, and we can learn about these things. Page 21 of 21