Journey of Technical Project Management in an Evolving Ecosystem
Abhyash Timsina1
1 Technical Project Manager, Sydney, Australia
E-mail: [email protected]
Written 15/04/2019
Published 15/04/2019
Contents Discussed
Account Management, Certification / Degrees, CRM, Business Requirements, SOW, Task Management, Administration, Supporting Tools, Programming, Process Mapping, Resource Management, Leadership, PMO, Hardware / Licensing, Solution, Technical, Meetings, Stakeholder Management, Data Migration, Integration, Testing, Communications, Deployment, Enhancements / Demands, Change Management, Issue / Risk Management, Site Visits, Training, Billing, Support, Workshop, Reporting, Feedback, Benefits Realisation, Handover, Program Audit
1. Introduction
This journal was written to enlighten future aspirants who want to take the Project Management stream for their career to understand what it is actually like day to day in working this role so they have a better idea of what tasks are expected. This follows the traditional waterfall methodology mixed with some AGILE aspects & the authors first-hand experience of project management. The technical software used in this journal is Salesforce.
1.1 Account Management
The role of a project manager would also interact with an Account Manager. An Account Managers role is generally sales. For example, if the company you are working for is a Services company, the account manager may sell internal resources time to the purchasing company. He/she could also sell hardware/software or even resell a partners services. The project manager comes in so there is alignment between sales and service (what the PM will deliver to the client).
1.2 Certification / Degrees
The project manager may be required to obtain certain certifications for their role. Here are some that are relevant:
Prince2: Prince2 (Projects in Controlled Environments) is a world renowned project management certification that is not specific to IT. Aspirants generally pick either this or the PMI certification for their long term career.
ITIL: ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is an IT services certification and is designed to standardise the selection, planning, delivery and maintenance of IT services within a business.
SCRUM Master: Similar to Prince2 (Waterfall approach), SCRUM is an Agile approach to projects and is generally used in software development projects.
Bachelors / Masters: Your 3 or 4 year University degree would be sufficient to land a project management role with the right training and experience.
Salesforce: Salesforce is a CRM, we will discuss this in the next section but getting Salesforce certified would open a lot of opportunities in the consulting world as it’s currently a hot market for Consultants, Developers and Business Analysts.
AWS: Another technical skill that is hot in the market is Amazon Web Services (AWS), which offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services.
1.3 CRM
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management software and is generally used by Sales or Service companies for simplifying their business day to day tasks. Salesforce is currently the number 1 CRM on the market and some of its tools are: Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Chatter, Communities, Service Console, Salesforce1 for Mobile, CPQ, Field Service Lightning etc.
1.4 Business Requirements
A business analyst is a person responsible for gathering requirements from the client. When an account manager sells a solution to the client, it’s up to the business analyst to understand specific requirements so it can be passed onto the solutions team to design and build the solution for the client. This may involve a Q&A interview followed by creation of a document outlining requirements line by line and grouping it with different variables.
1.5 SOW
A statement of work is a formal document that outlines what work a company is going to do in detail – outlining what is in scope and out of scope. This is generally written by the services company and provided to the client for sign off so there is issues later. It can include resource costings and timelines. A project manager would generally work with an account manager on this.
1.6 Task Management
Part of the day to day for a project manager is to plan tasks and timelines. A useful software to use is MS Project to track deliverables of a project against the deadlines and what resources the tasks are assigned to. Another aspect is to use MS Outlook to manage emails and calendar. Alternatively, third party software like Asana or Trello can be used online to manage tasks.
1.7 Administration
On a day to day basis, a project manager may do different admin tasks like raising PO’s (purchase orders) and goods receipting invoices or they may off load these tasks to a project coordinator. Or they may track expenses to a project against the budget. They also track resources who have been assigned the project and their timesheets for approval.
1.8 Supporting Tools
A project manager may use multiple software tools including Microsoft Office, GitHub, SourceTree, SharePoint, Jira, Confluence etc. This all depends on the nature & purpose of the project. Some others are Change Sets, Force.com IDE, Force.com Migration Tool (ANT), Work Bench, Jenkins.
1.9 Programming
For software development agile projects, some of the resources that are part of the project may be proficient in different programming languages including Java, Apex, Visualforce page, HTML, XML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery.
2.0 Process Mapping
A project manager may be required to define existing processes to determine strategies for process improvement (To-Be). A useful tool that can be used is MS Visio. This will give the PM a strong picture of the outlook of the processes and understand impact of changes.
2.1 Resource Management
When skilled resources are assigned to a project, they will need to bill their time and provide justification. This will ensure the PM appropriately approves the timesheet without any disputes.
2.2 Leadership
A project manager can also be a leader in some aspects and can use leadership strategies to manage a team of stakeholders but the more important focus is on building relationships. A PM also reports to senior management.
2.3 PMO
A project management office (PMO) is a central hub for all members of the project team and is there for governance. Project Documents & Templates are also stored for access by PMs. A PMO can accept status & financial reporting from PMs and can include forecasting end dates and RAG (Red Amber Green) statuses.
2.4 Hardware / Licensing
For a project to be delivered, there may be tangible assets that may need to be sent to client including hardware such as Routers or Switches. This involves liaison between the Project Manager and the Ordering Team internal to a company and specific licenses need to be obtained for the customer. This is part of the procurement cycle.
2.5 Solution
A solution is a group of hardware, software and service bundled into one and is written by an account manager when making the sale. From a contract perspective, they will include each aspect as a line item on the contract for the customer to accept. Also, a solutions team will build the solution before it gets to delivery.
2.6 Technical
A project manager may be technically proficient. This means that they may know how a system may work as part of project delivery. In the case of Salesforce, the PM may need knowledge about the specific Salesforce Technologies - Salesforce CRM, Salesforce Lightning, Apex Classes/Controllers, Test Classes, Apex Triggers, Visual Force (Pages, Component & Controllers), Standard objects, Workflow & Approvals, Apex Data Loader, App Exchange, Web Services, Reports, Dashboards, Force.com IDE, Eclipse, SOQL, SOSL, Custom objects, S-Controls, Process Builder, Email template, formula, Validation rules, Exceptions etc.
2.7 Meetings
As part of the day to day life of a PM, meetings must be organised and attended to track progress and action plans must be generated at the end of every meeting so it can be followed up later. Topics of meetings can include support ticket discussion, new features of a project, enhancement requests or solution customisations.
2.8 Stakeholder Management
A PM will deal with a variety of different internal and external stakeholders to an organisation. They may also deal with off-shore or interstate means for the successful delivery of the project. Some internal stakeholders include operations team, service delivery team, billing, HR, senior management etc. External stakeholders include customers or suppliers.
2.9 Data Migration
For software development projects, data migration is in relation to exporting data from legacy system and importing to new system as part of a project. Some data Data migration Tools are - Apex Data Loader, Custom Import wizard, ETL Tool, Informatica on Demand etc.
3.0 Integration
Integration deals with how a new system communicates with an external system for data delivery. Some examples include Web Services / Integration - REST and SOAP API, HTTP Callout. Salesforce API Tools - Force.com Migration Tool (ANT), Force.com IDE -Eclipse
3.1 Testing
A project manager may also deal with a testing team or do the testing themselves. Testing generally is done before a software is implemented to ensure all functionality works as expected. Tools such as ServiceNow can be used to track test cases and defects can be raised if something goes wrong. Each test case is created against the business requirements. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is a type of testing and is used to handle real-world scenarios of the software use.
3.2 Communications
When stakeholders need to be updated on progress of a project, formal communications (or comms) goes out via email in bulk to specific members of the organisation. This will outline what is happening and the timelines.
3.3 Deployment
This is the part of the project where majority of the activities happens. Some examples are: Successful implementation of 80+ small value infrastructure projects ranging from 20k and encompassed ADSL / Carrier, Switch / Router, Firewall Rule Additions, Bandwidth Upgrades, and other Connectivity and Firewall projects. Delivery of one major hardware project for an interstate client with 250 devices across 80 locations with $1 million-dollar value. Delivered 50+ projects for major client in NSW Government with approx. 100k value each including various types of software.
3.4 Enhancements / Demands
In software projects, customers may request new features that are called enhancements or demands. Customers will raise demands in software such as ServiceNow which will be added to a Summary Report that can be reviewed by the Internal Advisory Group at the start of the week and can be proposed into work packages, provided there is funding and authorization by senior management.
3.5 Change Management
There are generally two types of change management – changes to a system or changes to a scope of work. When making changes to a system, software such as ServiceNow can use used to raise changes that outlines duration / time of change with details about what’s happening and who’s involved. Extra documents can be added to the change with CIs (Configuration Items) that is more technical. Once it’s raised, it needs to be looked at by relevant stakeholders including senior. Sometimes, if a change is significant enough, it needs to be escalated & included in the CAB (Change Advisory Board) who can then determine if it should go ahead at the appropriate date/time.
For changes to a scope of work, if a SOW (Statement of Work) has been signed and customer would like to make changes during the delivery of the project, a change (or variation) request can be made that outlines additional costings for the customer to accept.
3.6 Issue / Risk Management
Part of the day to day for a project manager is to track issues / risks to project. When a project is progressing, a weekly call with the customer can be scheduled to track any issues that have occurred over the week, the impact of it and any major risks so an appropriate mitigation strategy can be developed. This can then be added to lessons learnt register for future projects.
3.7 Site Visits
Part of the job of the project manager is to attend site visits for deployment activities. This may be interviews with customer to gather more business requirements or timeframe discussions. Carpools or Travel can be organised internally with approval from manager as it's part of the project budget and can be funded.
3.8 Training
When a project is deployed, training is required to be provided to stakeholders so they are more knowledgeable about the system. Training can be done both face to face and over webinar which is online based training. Types of training are software demos, support calls etc. A project manager can also receive training to be able to do his work at the highest level.
3.9 Billing
Bills can be sent to customer once a project is complete to confirm their acceptance of the work completed. As there are two types of projects, fixed price or Time & Material, T&M projects can be billed monthly. Resource times & hardware/software costs are included here.
4.0 Support
After a project is completed, there will surely be issues that was not detected earlier so ongoing support needs to be provided to maintain warranty. A project manager may host support call with the customer weekly or fortnightly and may involve internal support teams including solutions or functional. Support tickets (or incidents) can be raised in software like ServiceNow for easier management of support updates. Once it is raised, it can be rerouted to the appropriate internal contact who can handle the case. Priority can also be set.
4.1 Workshop
As part of a project manager’s role could be to assist in organising, coordinating & setting up a Bootcamp for customers & senior contacts and this could involve creating attendance sheets, handing out survey flyers, assist in creation of agenda etc.
4.2 Reporting
Part of the role of PM, reporting must be done constantly to all relevant stakeholders. Weekly status reporting with individual customers outlining any issues and risks that was detailed from the initial customer kick-off. Another example is Weekly Project Governance / Revenue Reporting for Senior Leaders. Financial reporting can also be done like reporting OPEX costs & managing budgets regularly to internal Finance. Reporting can also be done in the steering committee who can provide guidance on the direction of the project.
4.3 Feedback
After a project is completed, feedback can be sent in the form of surveys to customers to understand their view of the results to determine trends as a means of improvement for the program. A project manager can also provide additional feedback during the course of the project so it can be included as part of lessons learnt register.
4.4 Benefits Realisation
During a project, benefits realisation reporting can be done for specific KPI (Key Performance Indicators) which can be measured against the business case. This will give a visual outlook on the overall project based upon what it was originally forecasted.
4.5 Handover
In the transition to BAU (Business As Usual), a project manager will need to handover project artefacts back to the business. This may include important emails, project documents, contractual documents.
4.6 Program Audit
A program manager may ask the project manager to sit through an interview with an external Audit agency and discuss lessons learnt on the project. The audit agency will compile feedback from various sources and create an Audit documentation.
The Author
Abhyash Timsina has been in the technology project management space for 5 years and has gathered a lot of knowledge & certifications in the field while working for large organisations in Australia. Abhyash’s goal is to one day become a Program Manager delivering large and complex projects in time, scope and budget. He can be reached at [email protected] and can be connected on LinkedIn