Working backwards

Working backwards from a fixed deadline is something that happens in many projects, but it is something that has never happened to me.  My programme manager came to me yesterday and asked for my project to be finished on a certain date.  He needed to know how this would affect my project and wanted to report to his management team that "it could be done" !

I set about the task, knowing that I need to shave off approximately three months from the plan that I put in front of him, just the day before.  I knew a considerable amount would be swallowed up by adding additional resource, as my plan was only draft and only included man days, without any resource leveling.  I also knew that a few of the tasks could be performed in parallel, as long as there was additional resource, which results in increased cost.

My first task was to understand the deadline.  When he said that the project had to be completed within a particular month, I needed to understand if this was a specific date, or could I make it the last working day.

The second item running around my head was to gain an understanding of the project scope.  Could we cut some scope, would other project dependencies be ready earlier and could we introduce a phased implementation, completing the basic scope for the tight deadline and then having a second development and implementation phase for the remaining scope.

The next piece of the jigsaw to deal with was the resources.  At the moment, as in most companies - I am sure - there are many projects fighting for the same resources to build, develop and implement new projects.  To overcome this, I was told I had carte-blanche over resources and could basically specify the task and then speak with the individual team leaders to understand their resource requirements.  This requirement would then be reported to senior management and we would either recruit, or the schedule would have to change.

Remember the golden triangle... Time, Scope, Cost.  You cannot change one, without affecting the other two.  If I was to cut time, it would potentially increase cost or reduce the scope - or both.

Reducing the time is a usual request for a PM and this can come with some considerable increased risk.  It is up to the PM to understand and report these risks up the management chain and to mitigate as much as possible, without increasing the costs too significantly.

This was an interesting project approach, one that I was very comfortable with, but one that I would prefer not to repeat too often.  I agree all consideration should go into producing an accurate project plan and to ensure the scope covers the business requirements.  The PM must then deliver the scope and keep a tight reign on the budget and time.  By all means, throw resource at project tasks, but be careful of your budget.

Why Backup Online?

Many people backup in one way or another.  Some people on a regular basis create a CD or DVD of their important files, some people have a NAS drive stored away in a cupboard or in the garage and others save their files on multiple computers.  There are many ways for the home user to back up.

In recent times, it is not uncommon for insurance companies to send your certificates to you online, or to stop all of your paper bills from the utilities companies coming to you through the paper post.  These are some of the important files people keep on the their home computer.

In addition, people download all their photos of weddings, children and events to their computer for "safe" keeping, as the memory card from the camera might get lost, stolen or damaged.  I know that I lost a memory card full of 200 photos from a family trip to Euro Disney and was devastated that it corrupt, within the camera itself.

With the use of media at home, people can now download music through the big resellers as well as videos.  It might be a surprise over time, that some people have approximately 100 music albums stored on their computer, which probably cost in excess of £500.

At the end of the day, because people cannot see the media and files stored on the computer and cannot touch them, they seem to take a back seat when thinking about security and safety.

Ignoring the fact that there are bad people in the world creating viruses, ignoring that computer disks fail or corrupt, the following are reasons to make sure you backup your files.

1.  Natural disaster - In recent weeks in the UK, we have experienced our wettest summer since records began.  Many thousands of properties have been flooded, caused millions of pounds of damage.  If people have a computer, the chances are that they are placed on the floor and not on a desk.  Imagine if your house was under 4 foot of water.  Would your computer be safe?

2.  House fire - Imagine the worst scenario possible.  You come home from work to find your house smouldering from a domestic fire.  Inside all of your possessions have been lost, never to be seen again.  Awful.  But, once you go to the insurance company and try to find out details of insurance, your possessions, bills, utility companies etc... where is the information?  Burned within your computer.

3.  Power surge - This is quite rare in recent times, but if there is adverse weather, we can experience a power surge from time to time.  If a computer is switched on and a power surge happens, the disk drive inside can become corrupt, or worse it would be rendered completely unreadable.

4.  Loss / Theft - A situation where you have your laptop stolen, or your house burgled, is a sad event.  Imagine you have your photos, documents and other media on the computer and all of your data is lost.  You will never get this back and will have lost many hours of work, precious photos and your film collection.

5.  Children - If, like me, you have children, they tend to play on the computer.  Mine will search the internet, play games, use powerpoint and paint to draw pictures, or even complete their homework.  I used to try to tell the teacher that my dog ate my homework, but what would they say?  Children tend to eat and drink by the computer.  Imagine that a glass of orange juice goes all over the laptop, into the keyboard and through to the workings of your laptop.  No more data.

All of these scenarios above point to computers at home, usually positioned on the floor, or a laptop, where it is susceptible to damaged and more importantly data loss.

I looked for a solution to this problem and came across an online backup solution to take all of these worries away.  I found a very good solution and have become a reseller myself.  Take a look at http://www.empachalweb.com for a solution to backup an unlimited amount of data over an unlimited amount of machines.  For an extra cost, you can backup a NAS and even create a shared, secure, drive for all of your machines to stay synchronized.

Take a look.  Be safe.  Backup online.

Self Development

As a mentor, I have often discussed with my team the fact that self development is important. I believe that every individual should take 30 minutes out of their working day to self learn. This would include reading relevant articles on the web, reading news sites and even technical manuals.

30 minutes adds up to 2.5 hour per working week. This amount of time is small enough to not make an impact to your working productivity. However, the golden rule is that if you do not take 30 minutes today, you cannot take 1 hour tomorrow. If you miss a 30 minute time slot in one day, you cannot ever make it up, as this could impact your productivity.

Further to this, I also believe in education. People may be an expert in a particular area, but in the current world, progression never stops. If you were an expert in Exchange 2007, well you are now out of date as Exchange 2010 is the latest version, with Exchange 2015 just around the corner.

It is up to each individual to learn and continuously learn and keep up, especially in the IT world. As a Lotus Notes developer I would make sure that I took at least one exam a year. I think in total, I have taken more than 10 exams related to Lotus over the years. Since moving from my technical background into the Project Management arena, I have already taken 3 exams and am now studying for the next.

I feel it is important to learn from a broad range of sources, including books, blogs and related websites. 30 minutes a day is not too much to ask and it pays dividends in your knowledge and overall breadth of knowledge in your chosen area.

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How tight do you run your projects?

I submitted a project plan, along with costs to the senior management last week and was told, off-the-record, that my timescales were too short and the expense budget was too small.

I have been a PM for a number of years and I am often told that my budgets are either too high or too low.  At the beginning of a project, this often concerns me and I always wonder what I have missed, or what the other person knows... that they have not told me.

I have the disadvantage, in one way, of a being a contractor, but also the clear advantage of being a contractor in another. 

For the disadvantage, I do not know the project history or "norm" within the specific company.  I do not know if projects historically tend to run to time and budget.  I do not know if suppliers are particularly difficult, or is procurement can hold the ordering and payment processing up.  I do speak to the other project managers and build relationships with all parties involved, from procurement, finance, technical teams and testers etc and I do find if there are any lessons learned from previous projects, from either the project managers or the PMO department.

The advantage I have is that I know different companies work in different ways.  To mitigate this, I build the relationships between the key teams and make sure that they can accurately estimate their timescales, costs and highlight any risks and issues for me.  I of-course build in a certain percentage of time and additional cost to enable any overrun.

What are you best tips for dealing with forecasting within an unknown company?

A Project Manager's CV

I had a CV come across my desk this week, which was given to me by a very reliable source.  The CV on first impressions looked quite good, with over 16 years of Project Management experience, all in the Investment Banking industry.

I looked at it in a little more details today and realized there was very little detail within the CV.  It made me wonder what level of detail we should go into on a CV.  My thoughts are that there should be enough information for each work placement to give an outline of what you have been working on, but leaving out enough detail to be a feeder for a discussion in the interview.

As a PM, I would suggest you explain the basics of any project you have managed, along with the timescales, budgets, project team size and any technology used, replaced or removed.  Again, I would suggest this is at a high level as to not give away any confidentiality and to keep enough information back for interview questions.

In addition, I would highlight any particular issues or risks that were dealt with successfully along with any management reporting levels, SLAs, third party vendor communications etc... All of this I would see as secondary to the actual project details listed in the paragraph above.

The CV in question only came with the secondary information.  I understand it was from an investment banking background, but there is still a certain amount of detail you can add to a CV without it breaking any confidentiality agreements... or am I wrong?

Why Contracting?

I wrote on a forum some advice to a permanent member of staff considering the option of contracting.  The question was "How much experience do you need before you go contracting?".

My answer was fairly short, but I thought it was interesting enough to make into an article to share with you, especially in a time when contractors are getting a bad press.

I left university and after 18 months in two jobs, I went contracting.  Not consulting, contracting.  I was simply a developer assigned to a project to work on the Y2K project (remember that folks?).  I knew I was a good developer and had the confidence to leave the full-time security and branch out on my own.

Rule Number One as a contractor is to have the confidence in yourself to be able to step out and say "I can do this".  Confidence.  Simple.

The knowledge comes second.  This may surprise some people, but the reality is there is always an answer on the internet.  I remember my parents not being too happy about leaving the security of a full-time role and not knowing where I would be working, but I knew that I would be OK, I had the confidence.

I feel that knowledge must be backed up by qualifications.  People often undervalue qualifications, but the reality is that you are able to get a rounded education, the more you look into specific qualifications.  An example was while working within the Lotus Notes Arena, I was able to understand more of the theory and have a deeper understanding of the intricacies, over colleagues without the additional education and research.  My Father was a great believer in education and I am committed to this day to make sure I continue in his three-word mantra... "Education education education".  

Along with knowledge, a contractor is expected to make an impact to the team / project very soon after starting.  Often a day or two to show the processes / governance is all you are allowed before you actually start making progress on the task you have been taken on for.

Contractors get quite a bit of negative press and many full time employees often begrudge a contractor working along side them.  Usually the main reason is down to money.  This simple little thing makes many people jealous in all walks of life, but the issue between contractors vs permanent staff can often be very visible and difficult.

My reply for this is often the fact that we are actually paid more money that the usual member of staff, but we are only paid for the time we are working.  The eight standard bank holidays, sick pay and our annual holiday is not paid, neither are the extras such as Training and Qualifications (remember my paragraph above).  We do have other "perks" such as our subsistence and travel are paid before tax, we can pay ourselves in a way to minimise our tax, but we still have all the additional paperwork, research, accountants fees etc to make this happen.

Anyone can be a contractor.  You need to have the confidence, the knowledge, the qualifications and the self motivation to go out there and sell yourself. 

Is Android King - or too Risky?

I have both an Android phone and tablet.  I actually have the new ASUS Transformer Prime, which is incredible.  I like widget and the freedom to place anything on my phone.  There are thousands of Apps available in the new Google Play store. 

However, I attended a Bring Your Own Device event last week which discussed the security implications.  One main point that came across was how insecure Android is, for example there was recently an application for a touch (flash light for my friends in the US), which would maliciously send a text message for an extortionate rate.  McAfee were one of the presenters and showed a frightening slide that told us... 

57% of Android users have no security on their phone 
Only 5% have anti virus or anti malware 
19% have some form of encryption 
17% have a password, or keypad lock 
Some of the above is quite frightening, especially as another slide showed that there were almost 400 new malware Apps found in Q4 of 2011, compared to just over 100 in Q3 of the same year. 

Why Android? 

The reason the hackers are targeting Android is due to that it is easy to publish an application on the Google Play site.  Anyone can simply create an application and publish it.  With the rising market share of Android, it seems that this is the easiest way to hit as many people.  This is why Windows is always a target of many viruses and malware.  I read last week that 90% of the smart phone purchased recently are either Android or iOS, with 53.8% of that figure being Android. 

Another reason for the easy access for malware is that people do not keep their phone up to date with various patches from Google.  This is for three main reasons. 

The phone is "Rooted" and therefore the updates have to come from an independent developer. 
The manufacturer does not update their version of the OS. 
The mobile operator does not allow the OS to be updated by Google or the manufacturer and does not update the OS themselves. 

All of these issues above are beyond the control of both the user and the corporation, when considering BYOD.  Try to think of the number of applications that are downloaded each day.  There was a game released 6 weeks ago, which has already been downloaded 35 million times.  Hackers and writers of malware and viruses will target these popular applications in hope that just 1% of users run their malicious code. 

How do you combat the threats? 

The threats can be combated in a number of ways.   

Malware / Viruses - Firstly, the OS could be kept up to date which would remove some of the loopholes that viruses and malware exploit.  In addition to this, many of the virus protection software companies provide a mobile phone version, for example I use AVG at home, as it is free, and they provide a mobile version - also for free. 
Device lock - On top of this we can add a simple screen lock, which would keep the average thief from stealing our data. 
Encryption - In addition we should encrypt our phones, which would mean that without a key, the data would be unreadable.  This means that as a company, you can send a command to delete the encryption key from the device and this in turn would make the data unreadable. 
Firewall - For corporate customers, you can ensure that the web browsing on the device is all filtered through your company firewall, which will include the safe browser and proxy settings you use within the desktop browsers. 

What to protect? 

There are three parts to securing the mobile device. 

Device - First, what would happen if the device was lost or stolen.  A good Mobile Device Management (MDM) policy is required, which would either track the phone, or could even disable it to the point that it could never be used again.  It would be good to add screen locks and password protection. 

Data - The most expensive part of the loss of the device would not be the replacement value, but would be issues around the data loss.  To prevent this the MDM should be able to Lock / Wipe or Delete the data on the device.  The corporate data must remain encrypted on the device and therefore a tool would be able to remove the encryption key, to ensure the data remains secure.  An issue here is 

Applications - Some companies would choose to only allow certain Apps on their devices, but what would happen in a truly BYOD environment?  If I was to use my own device for reading my work email, i would still want the choice to play games and use Apps that i want to use outside of work.  In response to this, McAfee and other suppliers have created their own Application Store, which contain all of the Apps which have been scanned for any virus or malware, which could be used by the device owner.  In addition to the supply of the applications, the Application Store would be able to remove applications from the device immediately, if a threat is detected. 

Conclusion 

The on-line world is a world where many unscrupulous people reside.  They target the vulnerable and the target them in numbers.  The new on-line experience is growing rapidly via the mobile browser and the number of Apps downloaded from various Application Stores is incredible, for example a new drawing game has had 35 million downloads within 6 weeks.  With the combination of both the application downloads and the web browsing, the sample is large for people to exploit.   

I only have a simple screen pattern lock on my phone, but will be adding the AVG free version of the anti virus / malware to my collection of applications today !