Metrics
Derek Huether
Most Important Metric for an Enterprise

As an executive, you will be faced with the choice to do the pivot (if you can) or persevere (if you have no other choice). This will lead to a series of “bets”. You lead with a hypothesis that the things you change will allow you to operate at pre-event levels. But, how long will it actually take for you to validate your hypothesis and have a bet pay off with pre-event levels? If you run out of time to figure it out or run out of bets you can place, then you either lose your standing in the market or worse risk going out of business.

Derek Huether
How to identify dependencies with Tableau and ...

Regardless of the organization or institution, there will always be dependencies. The larger the organization, the greater chance of the existence of dependencies.
This template is available for download from Tableau Public

Video
Derek Huether
Value Stream Management

In the following interview (both video and audio), Dave Prior and I explore why Value Stream Management is so important, how it works, the connection to Value Stream Mapping, and how you can get started with it.

Derek Huether
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics that are used to evaluate the performance of an organization or individual. They are used to measure progress towards achieving specific goals or objectives and to determine whether an organization or individual is meeting their targets.

Enterprise Insights, Jira Align, Metrics, Tableau
Derek Huether
How Atlassian Jira Align Supports Flow Metrics

I keep getting asked, does Jira Align support Flow Metrics, as defined in the Flow Framework and SAFe? The short answer is yes. If you believe these metrics will help unlock the potential of your teams, use this community post to see working examples of Tableau reports I have created using Jira Align and Enterprise Insights.

How Atlassian Jira Align Supports Flow Metrics

Project Management

Interesting PMI Perspective On Claiming PDUs

PMI PDU ClaimAfter one of my readers asked me about PMP PDU claims, I made a telephone call to PMI. The question revolved around Category 2H and the proper way to prove you have met the criteria of the PDU.  In the past, I purposely formatted round-table discussion agendas a certain way to make it easy on the PMPs to claim PDUs.  So, what proof do we need to claim category 2H PDUs?  And, how many PDUs can you claim for being employed as a project manager? Category: 2H Description: Practitioner of project and/or program management services for more than 1,500 project hours per calendar year. Maximum PDUs: Time in service 6 months: 5 PDUs Maximum 15 PDUs may be earned per cycle (3 years).

What does that mean?  Based on the telephone conversation I had, if you've worked as a PM for at least 6 months, you can claim 5 PDUs.  Otherwise, if you are able to say you spend more than 1,500 hours per calendar year in that roll, you also qualify to claim the 5 PDUs.  Within your Continuing Certification Requirements (CCR) cycle, which is now 3 years, you can do this 3 times.  Do the math and you have a total of 15 maximum PDUs, if you're a full time PM.  That's not bad!  You're 1/4 the way to meeting the goal of 60 required PDUs per CCR and you haven't spent a dollar on training.

What about proof?  When claiming PDUs for something like a round-table discussion, the only proof you need is an agenda or something similar. But, I was really surprised by they answer I got from PMI for Category 2H.  You don't need any proof.  When I was audited, prior to taking my exam, I provided a detailed account of my project experiences and areas of focus.  None of this is necessary to maintain your credential. I was very specific how I framed my question to PMI.

Me: Please confirm, yes or no, if I have my PMP certification and I show up to work every day with the title of PM, I rate 5 PDUs a year?  Nothing else is required?

PMI Answer: Yes, that is correct

I have to admit, I don’t agree with this.  What's the point of telling people to follow a process if you have no mechanism in place to verify they are following it correctly?

What do you think?

Getting Exactly What You Want

I just wrapped up a week long logo design project at 99Designs, with an intellectual property transfer agreement.  Flash back to August 2009, when I was watching Episode 13 of This Week in Startups. In it, there was an interview with the founder of a disruptive startup which connects passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design.  The company is called 99Designs.  With less than 30 days from our startup launch, it was time to complete a scheduled task titled Get logo for HueCubed. Because this is a bootstrapped effort, my budget was very low.  With a mere $150 to award to a designer, I was told it could go a long way on 99Designs.  As the contest sponsor, I answered a few questions about what the logo was for and any preferences that could help designers create original artwork to meet my needs.  The website was very straightforward. What was very helpful was it allowed both a public comment board and private comment board for your contest.  With 106 logo submissions, we narrowed it down to 3 designers.  Mictoon, Richard Scott Design, and mèrshî

With permission from two of the designers, I wanted to post submissions that made it to the finals.

Mictoon was the first to submit to the contest and continued to provide revised logos up until the end.  This designer was impressive in responding to every request we had.  I would post a comment about what I liked and what I did not like and we would get new submissions within a few hours.  I greatly appreciated the efforts made.  But with all contests, there can be only one winner.  Still, if you're ever on 99Designs, I would recommend you send a direct message and invite a submission.

Another very impressive designer was Richard Scott Design.  Within just a few iterations, this logo was as professional as it could be.  Again, the designer was very responsive to our requests.  That's the one thing I think made this effort such a success.  There was a huge volume of communications from both the designers and us.  I've never seen a successful project, when people operated in a void.  The more communications, the greater probability for success.

And this brings us to the winning submission.  mèrshî made the submission below and we were kind of taken back.  It had balance, clean lines, and nice colors.  The graphic could stand alone or could be paired with the font.  We made sure the font was under GPU/GPL so we wouldn't have to pay anything extra or hit a legal snag.  Within a few hours of winning the contest, multiple high res versions of the logo were provided to us, and we signed the intellectual property transfer agreement.  Again, 99Designs made it very easy to take ownership.  We really want to thank mèrshî for being so very accommodating, ensuring we had everything we needed.

I would greatly recommend 99Designs to anyone who needs a graphic.  As a disclaimer, I am not being compensated by 99Designs in any way for the review I am writing.  To the contrary, I paid them!

When you’re bootstrapping a startup, you do what you can with the resources you have.  Thank you to Jason Calacanis for creating and hosting This Week in Startups.  Without the show, I might not have heard of 99Designs.

The Critical Path Week Ending February 13

January 28 through February 5This week we dealt with the great blizzard of 2010.  It provided me extra time to write.  Then again, it took that extra time I thought I was going to spend on vacation.  My wife thinks I live in a world where everything is related to project management.   I go on a little rant about treating your customers right and then also lend an ear to my colleagues.  Read how I handle being both the sponsor and the project manager on a project.

2/7/2010

Snow Removal From an Agile PM Perspective

With our home getting hit with over 30 inches of snow in one weekend, I compared our HOA and the snow removal team to an Agile team.  Read how they went from failure to success, in one customer's eyes...

2/8/2010

My Big Fat Greek Project

My wife compares me to the father on My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  I'm no Gus Portokalos, but give me a word, any word, and I will show you that the root of that word is Greek.  Actually, show me a scenario, any scenario, and I will show you how it can be related back to Project Management.  If that doesn't do it for you, just put some Windex on it...

2/9/2010

The FedGov Fail Day 3

Jhaymee (@TheGreenPM) Wilson inspired this post.  I was frustrated the Federal Government would be closed for 3 days in a row.  I believed we could all be working, at least in a limited capacity, from home.  If the Federal Government could have a plan in place for H1N1, why the hell couldn't plan for snow?...

2/10/2010

MS Project Task Types – Fixed Work – Units – Duration

Upon reviewing a vendor’s Integrated Master Schedule, created in MS Project, I noticed something very peculiar. Where some tasks could clearly be marked as Fixed Duration, everything was Fixed Units.  In the post, I include a YouTube video to help you understand the difference between Fixed Work, Fixed Units, and Fixed Duration...

THE most important thing is the customer

...You’re welcome?  Did I say thank you? No, I didn’t.  I offered a pleasantry. Just have a nice day.  Goodbye, our business relationship has completed.  Have a nice life...Listen to them.  Be polite.  Deliver value.

2/11/2010

How Do You Know Your Metrics Are Worth It

So you want to create some metrics.  More importantly, someone has told you that you need to create some metrics.  How do you know if you’re just making work for yourself or if you’re just putting a spin on the same old data?...

2/12/2010

Sometimes It Is Best To Just Listen

It was the first day our team had been together in a week.  The DC FedGov closures have really rattled people.  As contractors and consultants, we are not Government employees.  We play by different rules.  Depending on your contract, if the FedGov is closed, you may not get paid...

2/13/2010

The Difficult Task of Managing My Logo Selection Project

Using 99Designs has allowed me to crowd source a design.  I listed the price I was willing to pay, the duration of the contest and provided as much background information as possible to enable designers to provide me with quality submissions.  We immediately entered a rapid prototyping stage...

Sometimes It Is Best To Just Listen

The Doctor Is InToday was a very interesting day.  It was the first day our team had been together in a week.  The DC FedGov closures have really rattled people.  As contractors and consultants, we are not Government employees.  We play by different rules.  Depending on your contract, if the FedGov is closed, you may not get paid. For those working under a corporate umbrella, where paid time off is offered as a benefit, this has left a lot of people very unhappy.  Without an opportunity to work from home, some were asked to take paid time off or leave without pay.  Either way, it hurts.

I can see both sides of the coin and empathize with both.  From a contract holder perspective, if they compensated each of their employees the 4 days the Federal offices were closed, it could do irreparable harm to the bottom line.

From the contractor and consultant side, there are feelings of desperation and abandonment.  I heard story after story about vacations being canceled or accepting a day without pay because they felt there was no other choice.  32 hours of the rainy day fund just left their accounts and there isn't a damned thing anyone can do about it.  The lack of control has put many on tilt.

Listening to people speak their minds, some had real rancorous opinions of the situation.  I'd like to think there is a happy ending in all this and it will all work out in the end.  Unfortunately, there is snow in the forecast next week.

Image courtesy of ournameisblog.blogspot.com

How Do You Know Your Metrics Are Worth It

GQM Paradigm

GQM Paradigm

So you want to create some metrics.  More importantly, someone has told you that you need to create some metrics.  How do you know if you're just making work for yourself or if you're just putting a spin on the same old data?

Ask yourself what the goals of your project are.

In trying to determine what to measure in order to achieve those goals, I recommend using a Goal-Question-Metric (GQM) paradigm. It can actually be applied to all life-cycle products, processes, and resources. I've been using this process for a few years and it really helps me creat a quality metric.  The GQM paradigm is based on the theory that all measurement should be [1]goal-oriented i.e., there has to be some rationale and need for collecting measurements, rather than collecting for the sake of collecting. Each metric collected is stated in terms of the major goals of the project or program. [2]Questions are then derived from the goals and help to refine, articulate, and determine if the goals can be achieved. [3]The metrics or measurements that are collected are then used to answer the questions in a quantifiable manner.

Here is an example of the GQM in action:

Goal (use this 4-step process to shape a goal)

[1] Purpose [2] Issue [3] Object (process) [4] Viewpoint

Goal 1

[1] Purpose [2] Issue [3] Object (process) [4] Viewpoint

Maintain a maximum level of customer satisfaction from the Help Desk user’s viewpoint

Question 1

What is the current help desk ticket trend?

Metrics 1 Metrics 2 Metrics 3 Metrics 4

Number of help desk tickets closed Number of new help desk tickets % tickets outside of the upper limit

Subjective rating of customer satisfaction

Metrics 5

Number of new help desk tickets open

Question 2

Is the help desk satisfaction improving or diminishing?

Metrics 6 Metrics 7 Metrics 8 Metrics 9

Number of help desk calls abandoned Number of help desk calls answered Number of help desk calls sent to voicemail

Subjective rating of customer satisfaction

As the great Lord Kelvin once said, "If you can not measure it, you can not improve it."

Image based on Basili, Caldiera, and Rombach "The Goal Question Metric Approach", 1990

THE most important thing is the customer

Remember the last time you were at the grocery store and the clerk responded by saying something unrelated to what you asked? This cashier is focused on ringing up your items.  They don't engage you at all.  No hello; no how are you; no did you find everything.  He or she finishes ringing up all of your items and you forward a have a nice day and they respond with something canned like you're welcome. You're welcome?  Did I say thank you? No, I didn't.  I offered a pleasantry. Just have a nice day.  Goodbye, our business relationship has completed.  Have a nice life. This is just simple and common courtesy.  It is being polite.  Your parents should have taught you these things as a child.  If you want something, say please. If someone holds the door for you, you damn well better say thank you...and if someone thanks you, say you're welcome.

So, why do so many people forget this in business?  I understand some customers can be difficult.  I understand user expectations can sometimes be unrealistic.  But let me say this.  Take a minute to listen to what your customer is saying.  You should be polite and courteous to them as often as you wash your hands after going to the bathroom.  If you don't do that 100% of the time, you have more problems then being polite.  But I digress.

Your customer is THE most important thing in your job.  It's not the process you follow.  It's not the product or service you offer.  It's the customer. Wait, did I say that?  Let me say it again. THE most important thing is the customer.  Listen to them.  Be polite.  Deliver value.

(image from sft.edu)