I am about to start my interviews with project managers and hope to continue them for a long time and perhaps revisit the project over the period of its existence to see how it is progressing.

But before I start to blog the interviews, I need to set the scene because I ask them to complete a very short survey and to complete a "chart" of their project's "rhythm" over time and these need some explanation.

Here are the survey questions:

1. What is the approximate monetary value of your project?

2. How many staff in your direct team?

3. What technology is the primary system you are implementing/modifying or what is the primary task of your project?

4. What did you do before you were a project manager?

5. What PM methodology do you use?

• PMBOK
• PRINCE2
• Hybrid of Those
• Tailored
• Other

6. What software tool(s) do you use to record and manage REQUIREMENTS?

7. What software tool(s) do you use to record and manage COSTS?

8. What software tool(s) do you use to record and manage SCHEDULES?

9. What software tool(s) do you use to record and manage TEST AND TRIALS?

10. What software tool(s) do you use to record and manage RISK?

 

Now I am not a software guru nor do I have any affiliations with any software vendor or tool. The purpose of questions 6 - 10 is to determine the emphasis that is placed on these aspects of the project. By looking at the tool, I get an insight into "how" that management function might be performed....at least I hope I will!!

My intent is to publish the consolidated results at various points in the future ...say at 10 interviews, 20 interviews and so on. I am really quite interested to see what the responses are.

Also during the interview, I ask them to draw the "rhythm" of their project against the following four graphs (click on it to see the full image):

Three of the meters have a positive and negative vertical dimension with time going from left to right with the fourth a more conventional graph. I don't put scales on the axis as the amounts are not important. The trends are what I seek. They will use a big green texta to draw their rhythm. So what do I mean with each graph:

• Success. This is about the success of the project. It should form the basis of some good discussion, because I am not convinced there is a really well and consistent understanding of what success is in the project management field. It might seem self evident, but my experience is that is quite varied.
• Stakeholder Support. Stakeholder support can have such an impact on the success (or perceived success) or otherwise of a project. It will be interesting to see the correlations with the graph above.
• Team Morale. Another aspect that I believe can have a correlation with project success. Sometimes it is as a result of success or sometimes it will impact it.
• Requirements / Design Volatility. I am not sure where this one will lead or indeed how it will be interpreted. I will wait and see.

Over time, I hope to draw some correlations across these. They have nothing to do really with my studies but I do believe some of these aspects have a significant impact on project success. Indeed, defining "success" is going to be an interesting discussion point in my interview I hope.

If you would like to participate in some way, feel free to contact me of course.