“Information you need, when you need it and in a form that makes sense to you.”
Introduction
Project Managers do not manage projects – they manage people, processes, and information. The first two of these should be the core strengths of a good Manager; however, Managers are often not skilled in the third: information management. This causes significant problems – hidden and obvious.
Organizations and projects thrive, or die based in part on how effectively they communicate and manage critical project information. The challenge of managing project information grows with an increased quantity of information, organizations, and types of information.
| Project Managers do not manage projects – they manage people, processes, and information. The first two are often the core strengths of a good Manager. However, information management is seldom a core strength. |
These challenges, and the attendant communication problems they engender within and between organizations, provide an increasing mandate to implement an effective Information Management System for any project you manage.
Project Managers and Information Management
Making information management (IM) particularly challenging for a Manager is the information flow is untamed: project information comes from multiple sources, in multiple formats and via multiple vectors. Then PMs must tame and distill this information and provide it to the project team in a single, coherent way. Otherwise, the project suffers.
Compounding this challenge, the need for an effective Information Management System (IMS) is often hidden because the issues and burdens caused by ineffective information management: missing documents, poor revision control, embarrassingly incorrectly named or stored document submittals, are hidden in the weeds of general project issues. Thus, these individual pain points are not collected under the IMS umbrella and do not illuminate that the underlying problem is information management. Thus, the focus isn’t on IM (do better wording)
Not recognizing this hidden collective issue nor knowing there are solutions available, Managers stoically move forward and make do. However, shying away from the challenges IM has on projects will not make the impacts go away. I suggest a key job of the Manager is to recognize the need for information management and work with senior management to get the needed tools.
Why is Information Management Challenging?
Put simply, kids, dogs and information have one thing in common: they all need structure and discipline so we may happily co-exist. I suggest we do an ineffective job managing our information – the information tail is wagging the project manager’s dog.
Too often we may see IMS as either an “intuitive” process that is simple enough for individual team members to manage or as a ‘heavy, complicated and expensive’ system that must do everything to effectively improve project success. Neither is true.
First, some examples of what information management is not: Folder naming structures designed differently for each project at each company. Numerous Excel sheets with discrete, unconnected information hidden in a private folder structure. No templates for common documents – using an old example and replacing old information with new. People managing file naming and storage constraints and not the system. Finally, Outlook is not an IMS. We should stop distributin information via email because then everyone must be an information manager – saving the files emailed to them and creating individual information repositories. When managing information Managers should: do it once, do it right, and do it for everyone.
Managers spend too much time identifying for each project a file name convention, folder locations, revision control, etc.You may ask, how else will we know where to find the information if I do not define a structure? Because, if you accept when you use and IMS the file name or storage location does not matter because the IMS will always find the information for you, your work life becomes easier. Example: when you use a coat check – you do not know where or how they store your coat; however, you know from experience, when you present the claim check you always get your coat back. That is, confidence in a well-defined system allows you to remove your focus from the mundane. Let us bring this to IM for project management.
An IMS is a software system that provides the tool to make the job easier and facilitates the technical aspect of the job (central template system, enforced workflow to ensure control, easy location, etc.) to allow people to focus on creating effective information. However, the challenge it addresses – information management, is not primarily a technical issue. IM is a people-centric activity with people-centric errors to manage. In fact, a key job of an IMS is to manage human error. When considering the need for an IMS, when looking at your current methods, do not ignore human errors that cause problems – treat them as a learning opportunity. Do not assume errors are the sign of idiots. Consistent errors are the sign of a poor system. Hide the complexity from the user.
| Your life will be easier if you accept that an IMS the file name or storage location does not matter because the IMS will always find the information for you and present it to you in an intuitue manner. |
Compounding the IMS challenge, people expect information access to be easy and information presentation to be compelling. If these are true, it is only because someone has put in a significant amount of effort behind the scenes to make everything appear easy and compelling. Making information easily available and useful is an unnaturally difficult endeavor. This challenge is due in part to the way information is created.
The fact is that an organization’s information is disorganized. It is a mess of loosely connected point-to-point communications each with its own purpose, assumptions, and implicit structure. When the information was created, it did not need to fit in with anything. If the intended audience gets the idea, who cares whether anyone else does? However, when removed from its context, this information may no longer make sense and shortcuts through these implicit assumptions come back to bite.
| The only purpose for creating Information is for the information to be easily found and used. Shortcuts in its creation that make it harder to find infomration are shortsighted trade-offs causing significant issues. |
Benefits to Project Members
- Uses standard software they are familiar with (MS Word, Outlook)
- One source for all project information
- Reminders of meetings, action items , etc.
- File name and where it is stored is managed by the IMS.
- The PMP calls for effective information management (get words)
- Information management includes template, workflow, content type, notification rules, review role, storage requirements.
- Document and process security is fully managed which ensures the security of documents and information, controlling who can create or view any information. Provides dashboard.
Next Steps
How can you determine where to put your improvement efforts? I suggest an engineering approach: the data will set you free.
Your best source of continuing sources of problems and a great measurement of manager workload is the email box of your project managers. Look there and figure out the top five or so reasons for the emails. How could they have been answered without an email (FAQ on website, better explanation on a form, etc.)? Put your time and effort into the big payoff issues first. Do not depend on people’s gut feelings.
Start with baby steps and improve.
In Closing
An IMS will not solve an information management problem within an organization anymore than a hammer will build a house. The IMS is a tool and, when in the hands of skilled people, the IMS facilitates and improves that which needs to be accomplished.
Recent history demonstrates that we are not alone in this information management problem. Tim Berners-Lee’s original proposal for the world-wide web was his attempt to manage documents at CERN (European Institute for nuclear research). The hyperlinks (precursor to www) started as a simple attempt at managing the documents of very smart people who had the same problem managing information as we do. Information management is tricky stuff and will only get more challenging as the amount of information, information sources, and distribution systems proliferate. Knowing this should make us feel better as we work towards improving the untamed mess that is the current state of project information.
I propose senior management should support the Manager by giving them an effective IMS to allow them to manage projects with better quality, speed, and profitability.
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What might a few key purpose statements look like to explain the need for an IMS? Well, purpose statements need to be specific and measurable. Following are some examples of good purposes for an IMS:
- Information management is challenging and important and worthy of the effort, thought, and budget required to do it properly.
- Prevent errors by thinking through the entire process of document creation, storage, distribution, and retrieval.
- Display all project information, from a single source, in a single coherent website accessible by all project members. This will ensure all members of the organization have access to and use the same information to ensure accuracy and consistency.
- The only purpose for creating Information (documents) is for the information to be easily found and used. Shortcuts in document creation that make it harder to find them are shortsighted trade-offs causing significant issues.
- Automatic reminders of key events: meetings, action items coming to due date, documents to review.
Challenge Statement
Although not a simple challenge, the progressive organization sees the difficult challenge of information management as an obstacle only to their competitors. For themselves, they see it as an opportunity to differentiate themselves from other project management consultants.
PMs need help from senior management and a forward-looking company can equip their project managers with tools not available at other companies and propel their project management to new heights. The alternative is either an inefficient status quo or, worse, a competitive disadvantage and lost business.
DOES THIS belong HERE incorporate ?
What might a few key purpose statements look like to explain the need for an IMS? Well, purpose statements need to be specific and measurable. Following are some examples of good purposes for an IMS:
- Information management is challenging and important and worthy of the effort, thought, and budget required to do it properly.
- Prevent errors by thinking through the entire process of document creation, storage, distribution, and retrieval.
- Display all project information, from a single source, in a single coherent website accessible by all project members. This will ensure all members of the organization have access to and use the same information to ensure accuracy and consistency.
- The only purpose for creating Information (documents) is for the information to be easily found and used. Shortcuts in document creation that make it harder to find them are shortsighted trade-offs causing significant issues.
- Automatic reminders of key events: meetings, action items coming to due date, documents to review.
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General concepts of information management
Organizations thrive or die based in part on how effectively they manage and communicate critical information. The more information to manage and the more spread out the organization, the greater the challenge of managing this information. These challenges, and the attendant communication problems they engender within your organization, should be seen as an increasing mandate to implement an effective organizational Information Management System (IMS).
People expect access to information to be easy and presentation to be compelling. If these are true, it’s only because someone’s put in an enormous amount of effort behind the scenes to make everything appear so easy and compelling. Making information easily available and useful is an unnaturally difficult endeavor. This challenge is due in part to the way information is created.
The fact is that an organization’s information is rarely organized. It’s a mess of loosely connected point-to-point communications, each with its own purpose, assumptions, and implicit structure. When the information was first created, it didn’t need to fit with anything else. As long as the intended audience gets the idea, who cares whether anyone else does? However, when removed from its context, this information may no longer make sense. So how will an IMS help this situation? This tough question can be answered fairly simply by understanding that you need an IMS if your collection, management, and publishing processes are too complex to manage informally.
Put simply, kids, dogs and information have one thing in common: they all need structure and discipline so we all may happily co-exist. I suggest that right now, most of us don’t do a good job managing our information and the tail is wagging the dog.
We are not alone in this problem. The original proposal for the world-wide web (WWW) from Tim Berners-Lee was to manage documents at CERN. Knowing really smart people at CERN had the same problem we do – managing information – should make us feel better. This is tricky stuff.
In Summary
- Information management is challenging and important and ultimately worthy of the effort, thought, and budget required to do it properly.
- Prevent errors by thinking through the entire process of document creation, storage, distribution, and retrieval.
- Information (documents) are created to be found and used. Shortcuts in document creation that make it harder to find them are shortsighted trade-offs.
- Reduce responsibility of person (user) to that which they can and should control and for which they have the required expertise.
- Remove roadblocks to success by providing effective methods and tools for the users.
My World
Push the clerical work to the computer – ensure the work is done correctly. I focus on two questions you certainly should know: What project am I working on? What am I trying to do?
What project am I working on?
Choose from pulldown list.
What am I trying to do?
Create memo? Create meeting minutes?
Get to Work:
Open Word.
Select your project.
Select document type you want to create.
A template: specific to the project is open. This includes list of team members, etc.
Here is the best part:
When your done, press upload, everything is automatic:
File saved with name structure defined by the project manager.
Document is uploaded to the proper server.
On the project website, documents are separated by type (show in tabs/pages).
Document parsed and key data show in table,
This shows how I connect back to civil PM stuff
Information management
Project-based working relies on accurate and timely information and data for teams and stakeholders to make informed decisions and fulfil their role in a cost-efficient and effective way.
Effective information management enables project teams to use their time, resources and expertise effectively to make decisions and to fulfil their roles.
The process of information management encompasses:
Collection of project information can take many forms, such as written, video, oral, audio or electronic. It is important to collect only as much information as reasonably needed and assure its quality, i.e. that it can be trusted (SOIPM3).
Storage is important for a range of purposes including: analysis, identifying historical trends, developing lessons learned, satisfying legislative requirements etc. Appropriate controls – including user access, export controls, versioning, change control, audit, and back-ups – must be established. (SOIPM3)
Curation includes the process of gathering and organising information relevant so that it can add value.
Dissemination involves consideration of questions such as: what information is to be distributed, to whom, in what format, how often, under what circumstances and using what security protocols? (SOIPM3)
Archiving takes place after a period of time, usually determined by a mix of company policy and judgement. Because of the large volumes of information archived, an effective classification system that anticipates future uses is essential (SOIPM3).
Destruction eventually takes place because the information is no longer deemed important, especially in comparison to the on-going storage costs and legislation e.g. privacy laws, only allows the storage of information for a prescribed period (SOIPM3).
Also from same webpage
Project, programme or portfolio
Project, programme or portfolio documentation provides wide benefits and behaves as a tool to show plans and control the process.
Defining information management processes and responsibilities is a key set-up activity because project professionals need reliable information to communicate with the team and wider stakeholders and to provide documentary evidence for assurance.
As documents and other information are created and subsequently updated, version control is established to ensure that time and money are not wasted with people working with superseded versions.
Project professionals also:
- Establish a mechanism for communicating changes to documents to relevant stakeholders.
- Design information storage and retrieval with accessibility in mind. Information that cannot be found is of no value. This is important to aid in developing lessons learned.
- Archive information when it is superseded as it provides an audit trail of changes. Eventually information will be destroyed because it may no longer be important or due to legislation such as privacy laws.
Iterative or agile projects place greater emphasis on the discovery and recording of emergent information rather than reliance on pre-approved plans and are likely to employ dynamic modes of capturing such new information.