PMBOK Chapter 9 Project Human Resource ManagementAnd Case Study

Jacob Sandnes3/30/15

2

Road Map

• Introduction• Plan Human Resource Management• Acquire Project Team• Develop Project Team • Manage Project Team • Case Study• Conclusion

3

Introduction • Project HRM – the processes that organize,

manage, and lead the project team. • The project team – those with assigned roles

to complete the project.• The project management team – responsible

for management and leadership. • Project HRM can also include.– Sponsors, clients, support staff, etc.

4

Introduction • Managing and leading involves– Influencing the project team (human factors)– Professional and ethical behavior.

• Project HRM processes interact with other areas knowledge areas. – Initial team members create WBS– Additional members may be needed – Their experience levels may increase or decrease

project risk

5

Introduction • Process areas are – Plan human resources – Acquire project team • Confirm HR availability and obtain team

– Develop project team • Improve competencies, interaction, and environment

– Manage project team • Tracking performance and managing changes

6

Road Map

• Introduction• Plan Human Resource Management• Acquire Project Team• Develop Project Team • Manage Project Team • Case Study• Conclusion

7

Plan Human Resource Management

• Process of:– Identify/document• Roles• Responsibilities• Required skills• Reporting• Relationships

8

Plan Human Resource Management

• Key benefits– Establishes • Roles• Responsibilities • Project org. charts• Staffing management

plan

9

Plan Human Resource Management

• Inputs– Project management plan– Activity resource requirements• Specifically human resources needed.

– Enterprise environmental factors• Organizational culture and structure.• Existing human resources.

– Organizational process assets • Policies, templets, lessons learned, etc.

10

Plan Human Resource Management

• Tools and Techniques – Org. charts and position descriptions• Hierarchical, matrix, and text-oriented

– Networking– Organizational theory – Expert judgment– Meetings

11

Plan Human Resource Management

• Charts

12

Plan Human Resource Management • Outputs– Human resource management plan• Defines roles and responsibilities

– Role, authority, responsibility, and competencies

• Project org. charts• Staffing management plan

– Staff acquisition – Resource calendars– Staff release plan– Training needs– Recognition and rewards– Compliance and safety

13

Road Map

• Introduction• Plan Human Resource Management• Acquire Project Team• Develop Project Team • Manage Project Team • Case Study• Conclusion

14

Acquire Project Team

• Process of:– Confirming HR availability– Obtaining the team.

• Key benefit:– Outlining & guiding the

team selection and responsibility assignment.

15

Acquire Project Team

• Inputs – Human resource management plan– Enterprise environmental factors– Organizational process assets

16

Acquire Project Team • Tools and techniques – Pre-assignment• Selected in advance

– Negotiation• Functional mangers, other PM teams, and external org

– Acquisition– Virtual teams– Multi-criteria decision analysis • Availability, cost, experience, ability, knowledge, skills,

attitude, international factors

17

Acquire Project Team

• Outputs – Project staff assignments– Resource calendars– Project management plan updates

18

Road Map

• Introduction• Plan Human Resource Management• Acquire Project Team• Develop Project Team • Manage Project Team • Case Study• Conclusion

19

Develop Project Team

• Process of:– Improving competencies – Team member interaction– Team environment

20

Develop Project Team

• Key benefits:– Improved teamwork– Enhanced people skills – Enhanced competencies – Motivated employees– Reduced staff turnover– Better project performance

21

Develop Project Team

• Inputs – Human resource management plan – Project staff assignments– Resource calendars

22

Develop Project Team

• Tools and Techniques – Interpersonal skills• Emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, negotiation,

influence, team building and group facilitation

– Training• Classroom, online, on-the-job, etc.

– Team-building activities (Tuckman ladder)• Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning

– Ground rules

23

Develop Project Team

• Tools and Techniques – Colocation • Meeting rooms (war room), poster boards, etc.

– Recognition and rewards– Personnel assessment tools• Surveys, structured interviews, ability tests, and focus

groups

24

Develop Project Team

• Outputs– Team performance assessments– Enterprise environmental factors updates

25

Road Map

• Introduction• Plan Human Resource Management• Acquire Project Team• Develop Project Team • Manage Project Team • Case Study• Conclusion

26

Manage Project Team

• Process of:– Tracking performance– Providing feedback– Resolving issues – Managing changes

27

Manage Project Team

• Key benefits:– Influences behavior– Manages conflicts– Resolves issues– Appraises performance

28

Manage Project Team

• Inputs– Human resource management plan– Project staff assignments– Team performance assessments – Issue log– Work performance reports – Organizational process assets• Newsletters, websites, bonus structures, etc.

29

Manage Project Team• Tools and techniques– Observation and conversation– Project performance appraisals– Conflict management• Withdraw/avoid• Smooth/accommodate• Compromise/reconcile• Force/direct• Collaborate/problem solve

– Interpersonal skills (leadership, influence, decisive)

30

Manage Project Team

• Outputs– PMP updates– Project document updates• Issue log

– Enterprise environmental factors updates– Organizational process assets updates

31

Road Map

• Introduction• Plan Human Resource Management• Acquire Project Team• Develop Project Team • Manage Project Team • Case Study• Conclusion

32

Case Study

• Title - “Overcoming Barriers to Self-Management in Software Teams”

• The team – Basic work unit– A small number of people with complementary

skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

33

Case Study

• Key question- “How should you organize teamwork for software development”

• Two major types – Command and control• Centralized decision authority• Individual decisions

– Self-managed• Scrum • Shared decision making

34

Case Study• Self-managing teams – Benefits• Problems dealt quickly and accurately • Reduce cost, improve quality• Higher employee satisfaction• Higher functional redundancies

– Problems• Team performance is complex • Depends on competence in managing and executing• Difficult to implement

35

Case Study• This study examines – 5 teams – 3 companies – 3 years

• All introduced agile into their projects

36

Case Study

• Company A, B, and C– A develops customer specific software on

contract. Specifically for planning and work coordination

– B manufactures receiving stations for meteorological and earth observation satellite data.

– C develops software for maritime, offshore, and process industries.

37

Case Study• All five teams received – One day of general intro to scrum.– One day of tailoring agile practices to their

projects.• Data gathering methods– Observation of daily work and meetings (stand-

ups, retrospectives, etc.)– Conducted interviews – Inspected documents

38

Case study

• Key topic emerged – Self-Management

• Barriers to self-management– Team-level – Organizational-level

39

Case study

• Team-level barriers– Individual Commitment– Failure to learn – Individual leadership

40

Case study• Individual commitment– To much priority to individual goals• Specialization • Developers created

– Individual plans, full control over modules

• Team members had less interaction• What if someone got sick?

– Unrealistic plans• Too much in one sprint• Plans were too broad and too flexible

41

Case study• Individual commitment– Unclear completion criteria• When is the task done?

– Meetings weren’t engaging • Scrum tool was distracting • Scrum master directly addressed developers• In companies A and B some developers fell asleep!

42

Case study• Failure to learn– Low team autonomy• Outside people needs to respect efforts at

improvement.• Need to affect managerial decisions to improve.

– Symbolic self-management

• In company C product owner distracted team– New issue/crisis– Presented new features with uncertainty – Distracted team from iteration plan.

43

Case study• Failure to learn– Impression management• Made project team look good• Reported unfinished task as finished• Motivated by competing project resources• Company A lost trust in team

– Specialization • Problems with developer owned code unreported

44

Case study• Individual leadership – Decentralized decision making• Failure to understand what others are doing

– Company A • Developer spent 3 days implementing features for

future products.– Decision hijacking

– Many scrum master didn’t change decision habits.– Who should be involved in what decision?• One experienced new hire was left out of decisions.

45

Case study

• Organizational barriers– Shared Resources – Organizational control– Specialist culture

46

Case study

• Shared resources– Projects competed for shared HR • Developers assigned to two projects • Some scrum masters were allowed to prevent

developers from other projects• Failure to provide scheduling and cross training

– Culture did not allow changes in organization of teams.

– No investment in redundancy

47

Case study• Organizational Control – Company B• Tool for organizing tasks included information for QA

department.• Project team ignored information and characterized it

as busy work.

– Company A • Management interested in number of hours reported

rather than progress.• Scrum masters told developers to report more hours

than were actually worked.

48

Case study• Specialist Culture– Generalists needed to be able to fill in. – Company C• Chief architect controlled all decisions

– Company B• Developers protected their knowledge• Developers became important and could not be fired

– Company A• Developers afraid to take responsibility for code• Developers would be stuck with that product

49

Case study• Overcoming the barriers – Organize cross-training• Increases responsiveness to change and flexibility

– Collocate the team • Increases interaction and cooperation

– Appreciate generalists • Select team members with potential for redundancy

– Build trust and commitment• Teams’ need for learning should motivate not

management’s control.• Beware of impression management

50

Case study

• Overcoming the barriers– Align people to one project at a time • Easier in large organizations • Must be coordinated by management, not team

51

Road Map

• Introduction• Plan Human Resource Management• Acquire Project Team• Develop Project Team • Manage Project Team • Case Study• Conclusion

52

Conclusion

• Thank you for your time!• Questions?

53

References

• Moe, N., Dingsøyr, T., & Dybå, T. (2009). Overcoming Barriers to Self-Management in Software Teams. IEEE Software, 20-26.

• Project Human Resource Management. (2013). In A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK guide), fifth edition (5th ed.). Newtown Square, Pa.: Project Management Institute.