Are you a project manager who needs to pitch the concept of remote project management to your PMO director? Or are you a PMO director of CIO or corporate exec building your project management model and you need to pitch the virtual project management team model to your CEO or the rest of your leadership team?  I’m sure there are many resources out there that tell you why remote project management is a good idea or why virtual project teams work.  Hint…if you read the phrase carbon footprint in the article anywhere run away…it’s likely outdated.  I’m not saying you want save resources and a few trees and percentages of the ozone layer by going remote, but the term carbon footprint has almost a “disco” ring to it….so avoid that as part of the argument.

Here are a few arguments that can be made for remote project management from my perspective as I’ve been doing it successfully for most of the past 12 years or so…

You have access to the best talent in the world.  This is more of an argument for the entire virtual team, not just remote project management.  But that’s most of the model I know…since I’ve been working with a very geographically dispersed project team model for most or all of those 12 years.  Utilizing talented development resources working offshore allows you to get the best of the best without the cost to relocate them (and usually they would not want to relocate so this is the only way you can get them on your staff or on your projects).  About the only negative is the issue with timezone differences, but most are happy to work with you on your timezone – or in the case of an entire team of developers – have one designated contact that will be available during your hours.  And, as for me, I’m happy to work odd hours so I’ve commonly been on Skype calls at 11pm or 3am…whatever the need is.

Your profit margin increases and you can win more projects.  By utilizing offshore development teams, you can obtain entire offshore teams that are co-located to work on your projects and usually at a fraction of the cost of local resources.  This model increases your project profit margins and allowing you to bid lower and win more projects than your competition.

Project managers are freed up for real work when it’s needed.  In 12 years of remote PM work, I’ve rarely had a situation where I said to myself, “this would be better if I could drive to an office somewhere.”  In fact, there has only been one project in the past 12 years where more than half of my project team was local to me.  For that project, I did spend some time in the office, but it really wasn’t necessary.  By having fairly flexible hours, I’m happy to work very early or even the middle of the night to connect with a tech lead in, say, India, and put together a status report at 10pm that contains the most up to date information possible for the next day’s weekly status call with the project client.  Without being tied to a 90 or 120 minute round trip commute and 8 hours in the office, it’s a pleasure to do the work that I know needs to be done and do it at the best time to get it done.

The overall cost savings and productivity can be high.  This, of course, depends on the organization, but remote/virtual teams – from my experience – have been more productive, cost less money due to more efficient meetings, less travel and high use of electronic communication, and the ability to connect with the client whenever necessary by someone key to the team.  The customer isn’t co-located, so why should the team be?  But we are ready, willing and able to support that customer literally on a moment’s notice and can do so for very little cost with the remote/virtual model.

Summary / call for input

I realize this is mostly my opinion, but it has worked for many years and continues to work in all the remote and consulting work that I currently perform.  Sure, there are interruptions at home, but no one seems too offended if I get up and move away from any commotion to a quieter place.  When I was working 9-5 in an office – with a nice big office – it seems that I constantly had staff that would come in, discuss an issue and then stay for three times longer than was needed.  My office was like their sanctuary, but it made me less productive for it.  I don’t miss it…at all.  And the water cooler discussions?  Same thing…mostly they are not about productive work-related issues, they are about the stuff everyone did last weekend or what they plan to do next weekend.
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How about our readers?  What are your experiences and opinions on virtual teams, remote project management and the productivity of it?  Cost effective or a problem?  And if you’re a professional services organization utilizing remote talent, tell us why it’s a good option.  Please share your thoughts and let’s discuss…

 POINTS

• McDonald’s has entered a strategic partnership with IBM to help the fast-food chain automate its drive-thru lanes.
• As part of the deal, IBM will acquire McD Tech Labs, which was formerly known as Apprente before McDonald’s bought the tech company in 2019.
• Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

McDonald’s said Wednesday it has entered a strategic partnership with IBM to develop artificial intelligence technology that will help the fast-food chain automate its drive-thru lanes.

As part of the deal, IBM will acquire McD Tech Labs, which was formerly known as Apprente before McDonald’s bought the tech company in 2019. McDonald’s didn’t disclose financial terms for either transaction.
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“In my mind, IBM is the ideal partner for McDonald’s given their expertise in building AI-powered customer care solutions and voice recognition,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the earnings call with analysts Wednesday.

The Apprente technology uses AI to understand drive-thru orders. This summer, McDonald’s tested the tech at a handful of Chicago restaurants. Kempczinski said the test showed “substantial benefits” to customers and employees.

In June, at the same conference where he disclosed the Chicago test, Kempczinski shared McDonald’s strategy for tech acquisitions.


“If we do acquisitions, it will be for a short period of time, bring it in-house, jump-start it, turbo it, and then spin it back out and find a partner that will work and scale it for us,” he said.


CFO Kevin Ozan said that fewer than 100 employees will leave McDonald’s to work for IBM.


“It isn’t a big financial statement impact, plus or minus, I’ll say, going forward from that,” Ozan said.


Shares of McDonald’s were up more than 2% midafternoon Wednesday after the company released its third-quarter results. The fast-food chain’s earnings and revenue topped estimates as its international markets bounced back.

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What keeps you going back to the same stores or restaurants or other businesses day in and day out? Convenience? Maybe...but more likely it's consistent, satisfactory delivery of whatever they deliver and whatever you are expecting. That's why my wife and I go back to the same rotation of restaurants for our date nights. That's why she buys her clothes at the same stores. Why she has been going to the same hair stylist for 12 years.


The same holds true with our project and consulting clients. They want to know what they’re getting for their money. They may be a returning client or they may be a new client who heard about you or your company from a colleague. If they’ve experienced consistent project delivery in the past – and I mean good, consistent project delivery – then that’s probably why they’re contacting you again. And if their colleague had good things to say about you from their own engagement experience, then that’s another reason why they are seeking to spend their hard-earned project dollars on you and your project team and organization. And it takes a lot for some organizations to trust and want to spend money on an expensive software or hardware implementation project.


Ensuring consistent delivery


How do we ensure consistent delivery from customer to customer or from implementation to implementation for the same customer? How do we show them the same quality of service every time? How do we give them confidence that if we delivered well last time, that we can do it again this time? How do we present ourselves in a way that says, “We’re professionals and we know what we’re doing every time we take on a new project”?


As a basis for continued excellent service to our customers, at a minimum we should be doing these five things for every customer on every project…


Practice best practices. Don’t forget the regular practices that help your project run smoothly throughout an engagement. Weekly status meetings, weekly status reports, regular internal team meetings, and frequent attention to budget forecasting and analysis are all foundational behaviors and actions that keep your project and team on track for the long haul on the project. Make sure you’re regularly delivering revised project schedules. Show them you know how to run a project well.


Conduct lessons learned. We’ll hit bumps in the road, but if we learn from those mistakes, then we’re less likely to repeat them and we’ll have a better chance of a more successful delivery next time.


Allow proper planning time. Don’t skip the planning. If you do, rework will likely follow. And that usually leads to overrun budgets, missed deadlines, and highly frustrated customers.


Create the project planning docs. As part of the planning process, don’t skip those planning documents that become roadmaps for good project leadership throughout the rest of the engagement. Documents like the Risk Management Plan, the Communication Plan, and the Test Plan can reap huge rewards as reference tools later in the project and they definitely send a message to your project customer that you are thorough and consistent in your project planning and delivery.


Plan well for testing. Testing is so critical on the project – I can’t stress this one enough. Prepare your team well for it and prepare your client even better, because it’s really a key task for them as you move toward deployment. Make sure the proper test preparation tasks are included in your project schedule. A well-tested solution ensures that your customer will be delivered a package that their end user can truly use.


Summary / call for input


Nothing guarantees project success. But if you can come up with a formula that works more than it fails, and if you can repeat it, then your chances for consistent, successful delivery to the project customer is much higher. And really, that's what it's all about, right?


What about our readers? What are your theories on consistent successful delivery to your project customers? Please share your thoughts and discuss.

The pause on federal student loan repayments ends in January. And, on Feb. 1, interest will start to accrue again. Those monthly repayments may come as a shock for many Americans, including older borrowers.
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While more than one-third of student loan borrowers are in their 20s and 30s, about 7% of those with student debt are 45 to 59 years old, and 1% are 60 or older.

Cassandra Shorter, 60, is a program manager in Houston. When she enrolled in college in 1979, she initially had about $17,000 in student loans and that debt has now more than doubled. 

“After graduating from high school, I went to college, then I had my daughter, and then about 30 years later I got a degree in biblical counseling,” she said. Shorter worked and went to school on and off for three decades before graduating in 2009. 

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Over the next decade, she often requested forbearance to temporarily stop making payments on her loans. “Every year I would have forbearance as an option, so I would do it,” she said. “But now I have nearly $36,000 in student loans.” 

Unlike the Covid-19 emergency relief that has suspended federal student loan payments and essentially set interest rates at 0% since March 2020, forbearance prior to the pandemic was very different. Generally, if you are granted a forbearance on federal student loan payments, you are still responsible for paying the interest that accrued during that forbearance period. 

Now, Shorter is worried she won’t be able to pay all that she owes. 

Older borrowers who are still paying off student loans often have higher balances than those from younger generations and less time to pay back those loans. Data from Fidelity Investments shows that while the average student debt for Gen Z borrowers is $27,900 and $46,400 for millennials, Gen X borrowers owe $51,400 and baby boomers have $58,300. 

We see almost double the number of people with 401(k) loans when they’re holding student debt compared to those who don’t.
Amanda Hahnel
HEAD OF STUDENT DEBT RETIREMENT AT FIDELITY

“As you get older, you’re taking out higher interest loans,” said Amanda Hahnel, head of student debt retirement at Fidelity. “As you get older, you’re taking out loans for you and for your kids.

“So you’re getting hit both ways.”

In addition, Fidelity found many older student loan borrowers with access to workplace retirement savings plans are facing a double debt crisis as they often take out 401(k) loans, as well. 

“We see almost double the number of people with 401(k) loans when they’re holding student debt compared to those who don’t, and that’s really a mark of financial hardship,” Hahnel said.  

About 30% of boomers and 32% of Gen X borrowers with student debt also have a 401(k) loan, Fidelity data shows, compared to 17% and 23% of all 401(k) savers in those age groups who have borrowed from their 401(k) plan. 

Shorter said she thought about tapping her nest egg, but believes she is now too close to retirement to do it. While she hopes the government will expand its loan forgiveness programs to include older, long-time borrowers like her, she knows that is unlikely. So she’s planning ahead for next year.

To get ready for the end of the repayment pause on Jan. 31, 2022, college financing experts say you should review your budget to see how this renewed expense will fit in.

Make sure your loan service provider has up-to-date personal and financial information in case you’ve moved, changed jobs, are no longer employed or have had other life changes. And, also double check that your loan servicer has your accurate banking information, especially if you plan to resume making automatic payments. 

No one seeks out to be part of a failing project. No project manager in their right mind says, “I hope this project tanks.” It’s just not part of our human nature. That said there are just times when a project is beyond saving or two sides simply aren’t going to get to a point of mutual agreement on the outstanding issues. It may become clear at that point that moving forward is in no one’s best interest. How we close down such a project is probably something to be discussed in another article. I will make not of that and address that soon. But right now I’d like to look at some of the signs that can be indicators that the project may need to be laid to rest. Or at least halted until more information is available, better requirements are defined, a business structure has changed making the project goals clearer, or personnel who are getting in the way of progress are turned over.


I’m interested in hearing from our readers on reasons that projects may need to be shelved. For me, I’ve identified what I feel are the four main reasons I’ve witnessed either in my projects or in my colleagues projects. These four are:


Scope creep is continuous


I’m not talking here about small disagreements in where the line in the sand needs to be drawn in terms of project scope. There are rare cases where the kickoff meeting happens and you move into planning with the customer and what you thought was a ‘defined’ project has turned into a mess. The customer expected ‘x’ and you planned to deliver ‘y.’ Sometimes it’s an issue that started during the sales process and wasn’t glaringly obvious until the skilled resources who truly understand the solution are sitting down with the customer and planning out the implementation. This is where the tire meets the road – often really for the first time – and the customer says, “wait, that’s not what I was told by Sales.” Or, “I was told I could have this for free and now you’re telling me that’s an 200 hour effort?” Sometimes these situations can be handled through negotiation and sometimes they can’t. When they can’t and it’s become obvious that you’re at a stalemate, it’s likely time to call the project off or place it on hold until clear and decisive plans can be made.


The project funding runs dry


When funding runs dry, the project manager has a serious problem. And without any documentation to support otherwise, the blame is usually going to fall to him. What can cause this situation? Well, if it’s just simply oversight or laziness on the side of the project manager, then that’s not grounds to cancel or shelve the project – but it certainly is grounds to remove the project manager for lack of performance. What I’m really referring to for the purpose of this article is more than just lack of budget oversight. My reference here is to situations where increasing demands are placed on individual project team members to perform outside of the planned tasks for the project. Perhaps it’s customer demands, perhaps it’s a need for many project personnel to go onsite for an extended period of time to work out project details, or perhaps it’s a customer’s wish to have one resource 100% dedicated to the project when that was not originally in the plan to do so. If change orders can be put in place – and if the customer has the money to move forward with them – then everything is fine. But if the customer refuses the change orders, thus refusing to pay more for the personnel demands, then you have an issue. Likewise, if the customer’s funding has run dry and the project is nowhere near complete, you also have an issue. Unless your organization is ready to go ‘pro-bono’ the rest of the way on the project, you may have no choice but to end or halt the project until more funding is available on the customer side.


Future project phases are being questioned


This one may not be cause to actually cancel the remainder of the project, but it is likely time to implement what you have, assuming you’ve got a workable solution through the phases already rolled out, and leave the rest of the project until the work is better defined. Customer priorities and infrastructure changes can cause future phases of a project to come into question. Are they still needed? Should the order of the phases be changed? It’s nearly impossible to keep your expensive project resources intact while the customer takes two months to decide so it’s usually a good stopping point to give the customer a chance to regroup and figure out how they want to spend the rest of their project dollars – and if they even want and need to.


Customer project personnel are constantly turning over


Have you ever had one of those projects where the customer team seems to be moving through a revolving door? Customer team members come and go, even the project lead on the customer side seems to change regularly. Team members often aren’t as critical as the actual project sponsor or leader – at least not for major decision-making. But if this turnover in customer personnel is causing schedule slippages, missed tasks, and budget overruns as your team scrambles with conflicting direction from the customer, then you have a major issue on your hands. Before the blame falls to the delivery project team and to you as the project manager, be sure to document the customer team changes well. Following that, if the situation is not improving and productivity has come to a standstill or major decisions are not being made, then it may be time to stop work on the project and force the customer to make some key ‘go’, ‘no-go’ decisions on the remaining work on the project.


Summary


The key here is knowing when to suggest to the client that it's not in the best interest of either party to move forward with the consulting engagement.
This discussion assumes one very big item that simply can’t be overlooked. That is that you can contractually cancel this project and that you would be in agreement with the client to do so. Be careful to not pull the plug on a project that would end up costing you millions in litigation if you cancel it. I would never suggest that – obviously. I’m simply looking at situations that arise that make it obvious – to at least one party if not both – that the project really needs to be put out of it’s misery.

No one will argue with the savings associated with utilizing offshore development for your various IT projects. It may not make sense all the time, every time, and for some organizations…any time, but when used properly at the right time and for the right projects it can drastically increase the profitability of your engagement. Rates are relatively low and if you find the right, dependable team and have the right focused leadership on this side of whatever pond we’re talking about, then it is possible to stay the course and complete projects and healthcare development initiatives on time, very profitable, and with a high quality of development and functionality.


When considering data integrity, risks and issues that must be addressed surrounding healthcare IT and data handling, the first thing everyone thinks of is HIPAA. While that will always be at the top of everyone’s list, there’s more to think about. Mobile adoption is a key consideration as well in these times – it is an inevitable direction as most healthcare providers are utilizing mobile devices in exam rooms, emergency rooms, ambulances, and for connection away from their offices. Many healthcare analysts believe the greatest barrier to mobile health adoption is the risk of a data breach, followed by meeting regulatory and compliance requirements for the privacy and security of patient data. While there are certainly concerns to be addressed, the necessity of mobile devices for delivering care in an ever-expanding healthcare eco-system is undeniable.


Pros and cons


Why am I mentioning all of this? Because when considering offshore development, these concerns don’t go away. They do, in fact, grow if for no other reason than for pure ignorance as the level of security to be maintained is still the same and the onus for data safety lies with the delivery organization, not the offshore development team. Still there are several areas you must think about when considering taking your development offshore:

• Any existence of a strong labor union presence in software service sector force may result in lower productivity
• Some areas have a scarcity of trained supply for resources (a concern because some areas have resource attrition rates as high as 25%)
• Lack of wide array of technology skill set
• Potential for a lower oral English language skillset
• Unstable governments and inadequate IP laws
• Time zone differences often in the 8-12 hour range
• Weak software development process framework
• Some areas have resource attrition rates as high as 25%

Of course, there are benefits. Hourly rates in the range of $10-$30 per hour for most teams will top the list. And language barriers can often be overcome through the use of translators or by limiting most communication to email and instant messenger. In reality, most of these companies, when managed effectively by strong leaders on the hiring organization side, can delivery excellent services.


Risk considerations


As with any undertaking like this, there are always going to be risks and security concerns. Whether engaged in global software outsourcing or not, each company must assess the threats to their computer systems and the actual risks that they face. Threats include viruses, denial of service attacks, network intrusions, fraud, and sabotage by disgruntled employees. It is, of course, impossible to defend against all possible threats and therefore each company must analyze its actual risks. The investment in computer and network security must be commensurate with the actual risks.


Risk analysis and determining appropriate counter measures is necessary for all companies. However, the picture becomes much more complicated for a company that is using an offshore development facility. There are several complicating factors (as outlined by a document on Security Challenges of Offshore Development from the SANS Institute Reading Room):

• Loss of overall control. Outsourcing development often means a loss of some control and oversight. Security often loses the ability to regulate authentication users from the offshore team and opens direct channels into their system. It’s a risk/potential security concern that needs to be weighed.
• Network complexities. Keeping a handle on traffic and managing network configurations becomes an even greater challenge when an offshore development center is added. If the development center produces software for multiple clients and does not isolate the networks connected to each client’s system, configuration management can become a nearly impossible task.
• Clashing security policies. Not to be overlooked or minimized is the likely difference between yours and the offshore development facility’s approaches to security and security policies. Discrepancies and can create holes in the security system.
• Threats to intellectual property. Export compliance issues can become an issue when working with an offshore development center because your company’s information, customer data, financial data and trade secrets become available to employees who are not subject to the same US laws you are. Costly litigation can follow if there are security breaches.
• Legal concerns. Offshore development centers are subject to different laws – meaning protection of your sensitive data may be non-existent. Do proper research before embarking.

Summary


In the end, you have to decide what is going to be best for your organization, obviously. There are definitely some downside risks and considerations with going offshore – unless you have someone onsite 100% managing the offshore development team. But by doing that you cut seriously into the cost savings you’ll realize by going offshore, so I don’t recommend going that route. Plus, you’d have to find someone from your US group that wants to relocate to Vietnam. Not for me, but it may be for someone. A past colleague of mine has his own technical development staff there so he keeps a house there and goes there often.


What about our readers? If your organization is utilizing a few or an entire staff of offshore developers, how is it going? Successful? Problematic? What ongoing or frequent issues are you seeing? How are they being addressed? Please share your thoughts and experiences.