Five Immutable Principles of Project Success no Matter the Domain, Context, or Processes (Part 5)

Over the next 5 days, here is a collection of materials I've developed and applied over my years as a program performance management consultant.

Here's Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , and Part 4

Even experienced project managers are not immune to common reasons for project failure. Poor time and budget performance, failure to deal with complexity, and uncontrolled changes in scope can catch any project manager off guard. This collection of materials can help improve your project’s success rate.

Here's a collection of conference presentations, white papers, book chapters, and journal articles on topics developed over 4 decades of managing projects and programs in a variety of domains, where arriving on or before the needed time, at or below the needed cost, with the needed Capabilities to accomplish a mission or fulfill a strategy is necessary for the success of the project.

The basis of success for all project success, no matter the domain, project management process (Agile or Traditional), project management tools, and technology, starts by answering the questions posed by the Five Immutable Principles, first published in Performance-Based Project Management , American Management Association, February 2014.

1. What does Done look like in units of measure meaning full to the decision-makers, starting with Measures of Effectiveness (MOE), Measures of Performance (MOP), Technical Performance Measures (TPM), and Key Performance Parameters (KPP)?
2. What is the Plan to reach Done, with outcomes fulfilling these measures on the needed date, for the needed cost, to deliver the needed Capabilities to accomplish a mission or fulfill a strategy?
3. What Resources - staff, facilities, funding, and regulatory compliance will be needed to reach Done as needed?
4. What are the Impediments to reaching Done at the needed time, for the needed cost with the needed Capabilities?
5. How will Progress to Plan be measured in units of measure meaningful to the decision-makers? The passage of time, consumption of money, production of Stories, and Story points are not measures of progress to Plan. Delivery of Capabilities to accomplish the mission are.

Risk Management (RM)

Risk Management is essential for the success of any significant project. All project risk comes from uncertainty. Project uncertainty comes in two forms: Epistemic uncertainty which is the lack of knowledge, Epistemology is the study of knowledge. This uncertainty can be handled by buying knowledge to reduce the risk. And Aleatory uncertainty, which is a random process. On projects, Aleatory uncertainty is handled by the Cost, Schedule, and Technical Performance margin.

• What is Risk? - Cost and schedule growth is created by unrealistic technical performance expectations, unrealistic cost and schedule estimates, inadequate risk assessments, unanticipated technical issues, and poorly performed and ineffective risk management, all contributing to program technical and programmatic shortfalls.
• Managing Risk with Deliverables Based Planning - a 4-hour workshop following the guidance of Stephan Leschka of Hewlett Packard, when he says, "Without metrics, you're just another guy with an opinion."
• ?Risk Management Processes - Defense Threat Reduction Agency, March 27, 2012.
• Risk Management Guidance - The management of risk is a critical success factor of any project or program. This document is a collection of risk management categories that are used to ask the question “did you think about this risk and its impact on our probability of success?”
• Uncertainty and Resulting Risk on Project Management - It’s popular to talk about risk in straightforward approaches to managing risk. Like a step-by-step approach to making a list of the risk, assessing the probability of occurrence, and the impact if the risk were to occur.
• Comments on "Managing Projects Involving External Threats "
• Risk Assessment Template for Software Development or Acquisition Projects
• Managing Risk and Opportunity - 1st in a Series
• Managing Schedule and Cost Risk - 2nd in a Series
• The Risk Tolerant Master Schedule - 3rd in a Series
• Risk Management and Agile Software Development ?- handling aleatory and epistemic uncertainties.
• Risk Management - in Gower Handbook of Project Performance for Agile, Waterfall and Everything in Between, 1st Edition 2017.
• Building a Risk Tolerant Schedule - Technical and Programmatic disruption in project plans don't need to negatively impact cost, performance, or schedule metrics
• 5 Proven Approaches for Mitigating Project Failure - Principles are needed before Practices and Processes can be successfully applied.
• Risk Management is How Adults Manage Projects
• Risk Management in Five Easy Pieces with Apologies to Jack - Managing Cost, Schedule & Technical Performance Risk is the Basis of Good Project Management
• Five Easy Pieces: The Essential of Managing Programmatic Risk , 10th Annual Rocky Mountain Project Management Symposium, Colorado Springs, Colorado, May 2008
• Applying Risk Radar to High Risk Technology Projects - everyone involved in development, acquisition, or management tlks about risk. Trouble is
• Practices of Managing in the Presence of Uncertainties That Create Cost, Schedule, and Technical Technical Risk , Risk Awareness Week, 11-15 October 2021
• Programmatic Risk Management: A "Not So Simple" Introduction to the Complex but Critical Process of Building a Credible Schedule
• Assessing Enterprise Project Risk - Probability of Program Success P(s)
• 5 Proven Approaches for Mitigating Project Failure , American Management Association, 22 April 2015.
• Increasing the Probability of Program Success with Continuous Risk Management , Glen B. Alleman, Thomas J. Coonce, and Rick A. Price Joint Space Cost Council.
• Practices of Managing in the Presence of Uncertainties that Creat Cost, Schedule, and Technical Risk , Risk Awareness Week 2021, 11-15 October 2021.
• Managing Cost, Schedule, and Technical Performance Risk at Y-12 - Cost, Schedule, and Technical Performance risk management seamlessly integrates all three
• Five Easy Pieces of Risk Management , 10th Annual Rocky Mountain Project Management Symposium, Denver Colorado, 11 April 2008.
• Managing in the Presence of Uncertainty , PMI Mile High Chapter, 12 April 2019.
• Increasing the Probability of Program Success Using Risk+ - a workshop on the principles and practices of Risk+ and increasing the Probability of Program Success
• 5 Proven Approaches for Mitigating Project Failure , American Management Association, 22 April 2015.

Integrated Master Plan / Integrated Master Schedule (IMP/IMS)

Building, deploying, and executing an IMP / IMS requires change in the conventional paradigm of project planning and controls and the management processes. This change starts by measuring progress as the completion of Accomplishment Criteria (AC) and the fulfillment of Significant Accomplishments (SA). This progress is described through the assessment of physical percent complete rather than measuring progress through the passage of time and consumption of resources.

• A Gentle Introduction to Integrated Master Planning - Traditional project management starts with the identification of the tasks needed to deliver the solution. Integrated Master Planning starts by defining what “done” looks like, how we would recognize “done” when we encounter it, and what effort is needed to deliver “done." By defining accomplishments and criteria first, the effort needed to deliver can be easily identified.
• A Summary of the IMP / IMS Process Flow - Guided by the Capabilities Based Plan, the WBS, OBS, and RAM are the basis of the Integrated Master Plan
• ?Integrated Master Plan Methodology - The Integrated Master Plan (IMP) and Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) are important tools that provide significant assistance in planning and scheduling work efforts.
• IMP / IMS Step by Step - Building the Integrated Master Plan (IMP) and Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) from Proposal and Successful Execution.
• An Introduction to IMP/IMS (Narrated) - planning projects with tasks contained in the schedule, fails to define what done looks like in units of increasing effectiveness and performance of the outcomes. The Integrated Master Plan defines the increasing maturity of the program.
• Integrated Master Plan Methodology - the IMP/IMS provides significant assistance in planning and scheduling work efforts.
• The Five + One easy Steps to an Integrated Master Plan and Integrated Master Schedule
• Development of an Integrated Master Plan - For the complex, system of systems acquisition programs, scheduling starts with an Integrated Master Plan (IMP) and only then moves to the development of the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS).?
• Integrated Master Plan Development - Building the IMP as the basis of a credible Integrated Master Schedule.
• A Gentle Introduction to IMP/IMS - In 2003 the US Government revised its acquisition policies with a procurement strategy focused on process improvement and acquisition reform implemented by performance-based management.
• Key to Integrated Master Plan Notation - Vertical and Horizontal Connectivity
• From WBS to Integrated Master Schedule —a Step-by-Step Guide to Increasing the Probability of Program Success starts with the WBS, develops the Integrated Master Plan and Integrated Master Schedule, risks adjusts the IMS, and measures progress toward the plan in meaningful units of measure for decision makers.
• Integrated Master Plan - The Foundation for Program Success - starting with the Integrated Master Plan provides clear and concise descriptions of what "done" looks like in units of measure meaningful to the decision makers.
• Six ? Day Session on the Road to Becoming a CAM
• The Five + One Easy Steps to an Integrated Master Plan and Integrated Master Schedule
• Integrated Master Plan / Integrated Master Schedule in a Nutshell - describing the measures of increasing maturity and the activities needed to produce this maturity provides measures of physical percent complete in units meaningful to the decision-makers
• IMP/IMS Overview - of the Hubble Space Telescope
• Integrated Master Schedule Data Gathering Processes ?- Building the IMP and IMS starts with gathering the Tasks that define the Accomplishment Criteria.
• Key to IMP Notation - Vertical and Horizontal Connectivity
• IMP as the Definition of Done , Robin Pulverenti and Glen Alleman,?IPMW 2017.

Earned Value Management World Presentations

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a project management technique for measuring project performance and progress in an objective manner. EVM has the ability to combine measurements of scope, schedule, and cost in a single integrated system. It’s notable for its ability to provide accurate forecasts of project performance problems. - ACQNotes, Program Management Tool for Aerospace

EVM World 2009

• Earning Value from Earned Value, Using EV to Improve the Probability of Project Success , EVM Work 2009, PM-CPM 25th Anual International Conference

EVM World College of Performance Management 2010 - Naples, Florida

• Integrating Systems Engineering with Earned Value Management , Glen B. Alleman
• Coming Late to the Party - Getting to GREEN on the Fly - Patrick K. Barker, DR. William G. Chadick, and Glen B. Alleman
• ?Knowing What Done Looks Like - Connecting the Dots Between Technical Performance Measures, Earned Value, and Physical Performance Complete, Patrick K. Barker and Glen B. Alleman

EVM World 2011

• Implementing Technical Performance Measures , Glen B. Alleman
• Identifying Schedule Margin using Monte Carlo Simulation , Glen B. Alleman
• Integrating Technical Performance Measures , PMI EVM Community of Practice, EVM World 2011.

IPM Workshop 2015

• ?Integrating Agile Software Development with Earned Value Management , Glen B. Alleman and Jeff Lutton

EVM World 2014 - Alexandria, VA

• Exploring Ways to Inform Earned Value Using Technical Performance Measures , EMV World 2014 Conference

EVM World 2013

• Integrating Agile with EVM , Glen B. Alleman

EVM World 2015 - New Orleans, LA

• Informing Program Performance with Technical Performance Measures and Programmatic and Technical Risks , CPM EVM World 2015
• Informing BCWP (EV) with Technical Performance Measures of Risk , Mr. Gordon Kranz, Mr. Glen Alleman, and Mr. Dave Walden, EVM World 2015, Office of Performance Assessments and Root Cause Analysis (PARCA)
• Scope and Organization Management Workshop: Technical Performance Measurement Basis of Schedule Status , Glen B. Alleman and Thomas J. Coonce, IPM Workshop 2015.
• Applying Risk Management to Increase Credibility of the IMS , College of Performance Management, EVM World 2015.

EVM World 2016 - Naples, Florida

• Critical Thinking on Critical Path Analysis , Rick Price and Glen B. Alleman, EVM World, 2016.
• Setting up the Agile Program for EVM Compliant Validation, using the Principles of Agile Systems Engineering , Dr. AnnMarie L. Oien and Glen B. Alleman, EVM World 2016.
• Scope and Organizational Management Lesson C: Using Technical Performance Measures to Inform Earned Value Management , Glen B. Alleman and Thomas J. Coonce, EVM World 2016.
• Creating Credible Plans, Integrated Reporting, and Control Systems Part 1 , Thomas Coonce, Glen B. Alleman, and Rick Price, EVM World 2016.
• Scope and Organizational Management Lesson C: Using Technical Performance Measures to Inform Earned Value Management , Glen B. Alleman and Thomas J. Coonce, EVM World 2016.

EVM World 2017 - New Orleans, LA

• Calculating Physical Percent Complete for the PMB Using an Agile Tool , Glen B. Alleman, EVM World 2017.
• Scope and Organizational Management Lesson C: Using Technical Performance Measures to Inform Earned Value Management , Glen B. Alleman, EVM World 2017.
• Dynamic Schedule Management Workshop , Rick Price and Glen B. Alleman, EVM World 2017.

EVM World 2019 - Fort Lauderdale, Florida

• Earned Value Management Process Flow - Providing Actionable Information to the Decision Maker - For developing ROM, planning the Product and Sprint Backlogs, executing and statusing the Sprint, and informing the Earned Value Management Systems, using Physical Percent Complete of progress to plan.

Other Earned Value Management Resources

• Earned Value for Commercial Projects - Measuring Physical Performance Complete is the Foundation for Success for Commercial Projects. Assessing the general health of a project and establishing an early warning system for unexpected problems starts by measuring the Physical Percent Complete of the project’s deliverables.
• Earned Value Management FAR 34.2 and DFARS 252.234-7001 - Building, deploying, and operating DCMA-compliant Earned Value Management System.
• What is in Your CAM Notebook? - The CAM Notebook contains all the information needs to manage the Control Account or has references to the location for this information
• ?Estimating Cost and Schedule for Monte Carlo Simulation , Glen B. Alleman
• ?Using Technical Progress to Inform Earned Value Performance , Glen B. Alleman, Thomas J. Coonce, and Rick A. Price, College of Performance Management, IPM 2014
• ?Integrating Cost, Schedule, and Technical Performance to Increase the Probability of Program Success , Glen B. Alleman, and Michael R. Nosbisch, PMI EVM Community of Practice, IPM 2011
• Your Role as a Control Account Manager in the Integrated Baseline Review - as a Control Account Manager, you're the critical success factor in the Integrated Baseline Review
• Parametric Project Monitoring and Control - Earned Value is one approach to Performance measurement for monitoring and controlling the progress of software development projects. There are other approaches, but all methods need to ask, “what value is being returned for the invested cost and effort? ” Without connecting predetermined delivered value with predetermined effort, progress can only be measured as the passage of time, and you'll be late before you start.
• Notes of Real Options - Real Options as a powerful tool for guiding decision-making in the presence of uncertain cost and uncertain value
• How to Develop Credible Cost & Schedule Estimate - Credible cost and schedule estimates require discipline, skill, and experience. All three can be acquired over time. The starting point is understanding what processes make up the discipline of estimating.
• Project Management Plan (PMP) Earned Value Management System (EVMS) - Deploying an EVMS starts with a Plan. Here's the Path to a Validated EVMS that has received DCMA and PM-30
• Earned Value, XP (Extreme Programming) and Government Contracts - can XP live in an Earned Value reporting government contracting environment?
• Earned Value Management Essentials - Earned Value Management is more than people, processes, and tools. It is an integrated service that provides actionable information to decision-makers.
• Calculating Physical Percent Complete for the NES Projects using Scrum and Atlassian Structures
• Assessing Project Performance Beyond CPI/SPI - Informing Programmatic Performance (BCWP/EV) with technical Performance to Produce a Credible Estimate at Completion (EAC)
• Estimating and Reporting Agile Projects using SRDR and Earned Value Management , Glen B. Alleman and Thomas J. Coonce, PSM User's Group, Measurement: Measurement in a Complex Environment, 12-16 June 2017, Crystal City, Virginia.
• A Study on Informing Earned Value by Objectively Assessing Accomplishments at the Work Performance Level - Gordon Kranz, Glen Alleman, and David Walden, IPM 2014
• Successfully Integrating Agile with Earned Value Management ?- NDIA PMSC Quarterly Meeting, February 1-2, 2011
• The Road to a Successful Integrated Baseline Review (IBR) with a Validated Earned Value Management System
• CAM Short Course , skills need to survive the 1st 60 Days as a CAM
• Control Account Manager Short Course - a short overview of being a CAM
• Using Earned Value to Manage the Performance Measurement Baseline - Warren Buffet’s Noah Principle - There are no points for predicting rain, only for building lifeboats.
• Earned Value and the Critical Path?- Earned Value measures the volume of work compared to the volume of work planned in units of Value (Effectiveness and Performance of the deliverables)
• Earned Value in Five Easy Pieces - Not that Earned Value can be made that easy, but this is the start of getting our minds around the concepts of project performance measurement.
• Earned Value + Agile A Match Made in Heaven? The Nexus of Agile Software Development, Institute for Defense Analysis, Feb 19-20, 2015.
• A Cure for Unanticipated Cost and Schedule Growth , Thomas J. Coonce and Glen B. Alleman, International Cost Estimating & Analysis Association, 2014 Professional Development & Training Workshop, June 10-13, 2014. (White Paper)
• A Cure for Unanticipated Cost and Schedule Growth , Thomas J. Coonce and Glen B. Alleman, 2014 Professional Development Training Workshop (Briefing Deck)
• Big Data Meets Earned Value Management , International Cost Estimating & Analysis Association (ICEAA), 2014 Professional Development & Training Workshop, June 10-13, 2014
• Increasing Confidence in Box 6a, b, c of IPM Format 1, Using Existing EV-CR Data and built-in tools for R , The EV-CR contains data at the WBS level of program performance. Using R and built-in functions, the contents of IPMR Box a,b,c can be produced using this data and compared to the contents of 6 a,b, and c provided in the current IPMR submittal.
• Integrating Agile with EVM, College of Performance Management , May 2013
• ?The Intersection of Earned Value Management and Agile Software Development,?A Deltek Webinar - Today's Shifting Landscape in Project and Portfolio Management
• Integrating Risk with Earned Value Management , Pikes Peak Regional Chapter, 28 Feb 2009
• Earned Value + Agile = Success, Information Systems Summit II , 4/4/2011 - 4/6/2011, Baltimore, Maryland
• A Gentle Introduction to Earned Value Management Systems - Good metrics let us see if we are doing the right things and doing them well.
• A Gentle Introduction to Earned Value Management , PMI Professional Development Day, Grape Vine Texas
• Integrating Agile Software Development with Earned Value Management , Deltek Insight, 2015.
• Earned Value + Agile = Success , Northrop Grumman, C4ISR Systems.
• Earned Value + Agile = Success - Increasing the Probability of Program Success requires connecting the dots between EV and Agile development to produce a measure of Physical Percent Complete, PMI Professional Development Day, June 23, 2011

Earned Value Management and Agile

• CPM Series on Earned Value and Agile - Connecting EVM and Agile , Glen B. Alleman, PM World Journal, Vol. IV, Issues VIII, August 2015

Technical Performance Management (TPM)

• Technical Performance Measures - CPM-200C, College of Performance Management, IPMC 2012.
• Using Technical Performance Measures to Inform Earned Value , College of Performance Management, EVM World 2016.
• Using Technical Performance Measures to Inform Earned Value , Glen Alleman, Thomas Coonce, and Rick Price, College of Performance Management, IPM 2014.
• Principles of Technical Management - Lesson D: Implementing Technical Performance Management - 22nd Annual International IPM Conference, November 8-10, 2010
• Forecasting Cost and Schedule Performance in the Presence of Uncertainty - Probabilistic forecast of program performance.
• Forecasting ACAT1 Program Performance in the Presence of Statistical Uncertainty - IPMC 2013