A second round of stimulus payments was included in a coronavirus relief package signed by President Donald Trump on Sunday night.

The deal provides for $600 checks, but experts say it will take at least two weeks for the Treasury to get cash into individuals' bank accounts after legislation is signed.

"The timing could be more challenging this time, but the IRS could likely begin to get the money out in January," said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

In March, Congress provided individuals with $1,200 direct payments and couples with $2,400 plus $500 per child under the $2 trillion CARES Act.
As with that first round, the new payments will start phasing out for individuals with adjusted gross incomes of more than $75,000, and those making more than $99,000 won't receive anything. The income thresholds would be doubled for couples.

It took two weeks after the first bill was passed for the IRS to start distributing the money -- but some eligible recipients still haven't received it, months later.
​
Who gets the money fastest

The payments do not go all out at once. Those whose bank information is on file with the IRS will likely get the money first because it will be directly deposited into their account. Others will receive paper checks or prepaid debit cards in the mail.

About 90 million people -- more than half of those eligible -- received their payments within the first three weeks of April after the March deal was signed. Most people had their money within two months.

Still, about 12 million eligible Americans were at risk of not getting the money at all because the IRS had no way to reach them. While most people received the money automatically, very low-income people who don't normally file tax returns had to register online before November 21 to provide their address or bank account number.

IRS under pressure

Additional checks may delay the start of the 2020 tax filing season.

A second stimulus check means the agency will have to make changes to the tax return forms, some of which have already been sent to the printers.

December is not an ideal time to add to the IRS's workload. It's typically the month when work is done to prepare for the upcoming filing season and more staff may be on leave than usual due to the holidays.

"I believe the IRS will deliver the stimulus checks in a timely manner. It just might be at the expense of the filing season start date," said Chad Hooper, the executive director of the Professional Managers Association, which advocates for more than 30,000 non-union IRS workers.

I will be the first to say that remote work works for me. It works great and I've been doing it productively, effectively and successfully for years. But I realize that is not necessarily for everyone, it may not work on all types of projects, and it may not work in all companies, countries and industries. But it works for me in Las Vegas, Nevada.


To make a broad statement like “I can work from anywhere” is simply not true. It's like Green Eggs and Ham. Would you really work a project in a boat, with a goat, in the rain, in the dark, on a train, in a car, in a tree, in a box, with a fox, in a house, and with a mouse? Probably just “in a house.” But not with a mouse. Although I have actually performed project work in several of those other places listed above. But not knowingly with a mouse... So many of the others are fallacies, but they make a great story.


No, not everyone can work remotely and from anywhere. There are many things to be considered...


Where is your team located? Is your team co-located with you? If not, then there may be no need to work onsite and remote management may be the best route to take. There are many benefits as I've pointed out in articles along the way. But if your team is mostly co-located where you are, then you should be there as well. I worked for a Las Vegas based tech organization leading projects for many Fortune 500 organizations. I worked remotely about 95% of the time during my tenure because me project teams were dispersed across the US and around the world. But for two of my projects, most of my project team members were located at the Las Vegas headquarters and it just made good sense to work side by side with them. And it was by far the best call to make as we developed great working relationships and pulled off two highly successful implementations. I'm not saying we wouldn't have even if I had continued working from my home office, but since we could all be together and there were some stressful issue laden times on both projects, it was good that we could have project team meetings most of the time with a majority of the team side by side in the same room.


Do you have an escape route? You can't just have a great home office setup and call yourself a remote project manager. It won't work. What happens when you're on that critical weekly status call with the customer and your 5 year old son runs in the room begging for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? No matter what agreement or arrangement you've worked out with the rest of your family “team” as far as watching children and keeping them at bay especially when you're on a call or they themselves avoiding calling out for you to fix something, someone can and will slip through the clutches like a catastrophic risk you forget to plan for. It's not that big of a deal usually, but depending on the discussion, the nature of the call, and the way the project is going with the customer, it can cause issues or concerns – especially if it happens repeatedly. The solution? Have 2-3 more go-to locations where you have something setup or you can get to quickly if an emergency should arise. For me it's our library above the garage. Has great wi-fi reception, is very bright with lots of windows (and great mountain views) and has lots of workspace – I'd work from there all the time if my wife would let me but she is my home office manager and that isn't going to happen. I also have a downstairs guest bedroom I can go to if needed and between those two places I'm usually covered. There's always Starbucks for most of us, but since the closest to me is over 3 miles away, I need advanced notice to head over to that office away from home.


Does everyone approve? Does your senior management approve? How about your PMO Director, if that's applicable. You may say it's the greatest thing in the world and you're most productive working remotely – and I'd certainly buy in to that – but not everyone does. Many bosses think that if they can't see you work, then you're not actually working. Yes, that's silly – especially in the 2010's and current technology – but it happens and those “leaders” are still out there. You can do some cost benefit analysis' or provide other documentation to back you up, but if you can't change their mind then it's not going to happen. You'll either have to comply or move on.


What does the customer need? Think about the customer. I can't really think of a need from the customer's standpoint unless they tend to spend a lot of time at your organization's headquarters or if you mainly lead internal projects for business units in your own organization. But it happens and you may not be able to work – without customer concerns or issues – remotely. Thankfully, this one would likely be rare and only on a project by project basis so as the next project rolls around you probably won't face the same issue or concern.


Summary / call for input


The bottom line is this – I feel that remote work and remote project management is the best way to go if you are managing clients in different timezones, overseeing project staff in different timezones, and have the dedication, organization and office and equipment setup to pull this off. You are then flexible in your hours, able to meet with staff and customers at 2am if needed and may be willing to work for a bit less if it's that important to you because the life benefits – depending on your circumstances – can be huge. But it isn't for everyone.


Readers – please share your thoughts and opinions. Does it work for you? Were you denied remote work options if you requested them? Please share your experiences and thoughts on the topic.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has been here a year and is still greatly impacting a majority of the world right now. Organizations around the globe are affected and have sent workers home to work, restaurants are closing, grocery stores are either closing or limiting hours and can't keep products on the shelves long enough for panicked shoppers to get what they are there to buy or stock up on. Schools are closing. Universities are closed. Sports leagues like the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) suspended play and are playing shortened seasons with no one in the stands. Even the casinos here in Las Vegas shut down, opened up to minimal traffic and are considering shutting down again. The idea, of course, is to avoid gatherings of people where the virus can spread. It's the only way to win and eventually stop the virus from spreading.


Big tech corporations are taking it seriously as well. Workers are being sent home to work. Giants like Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter wisely started the mass exodus and others are following suit. The world wide numbers of infected individuals and deaths is still rising daily, but these measures will help.


But what how about our tech projects? How does this virus and the movement to work remotely affect projects starting up or that are in process? If you're a project manager or project centric organization you know full well that risk planning is critical. If you haven't already been sent home to work, let's consider what the overall affect to tech projects and project managers and teams will be in project centric organizations today and when the next emergency like this comes up...


Project opportunities will dwindle. There's no doubt that project opportunities will dwindle and therefore tech revenues will dwindle. The tech team and tech organizations are going to have to look hard at finding ways to grow more projects into new business and extended opportunities for more projects from existing clients. I'm not saying that remote project managers need to make sales, but every project manager should be eyeing potential needs within their client's organizations for need gaps they can fill with new project opportunities or change orders on current projects that expand the revenue footprint of the current projects in motion.


3rd party vendors will be closed or will not have available supplies to ship. This is going to have to be a major concern and one looked at as a very likely risk and planned for as well. What if you can't get that critical database update from a 3rd party vendor completed in time for it to be used on the project in May as documented in your project timeline? Timelines are going to slide – no question. But how will that affect the project overall? Have you planned for that potential issue? Will the end users still be able to get project delivery from you within the necessary timeframe? When we are faced with these situations then sometimes the timeline will need to be put together with the thought of “under promise and over deliver.” Don't set customer expectations too high from the beginning. Be sure they also know and agree to the risks.


Remote work must happen. Again, when it is serious and people need to be separated from each other, remote work and remote projects will happen. Be sure you have the right people who can handle it and won't fail under the pressure. Organizations in the future are going to want to consider stocking their teams – at least to some degree – with individuals who have experience with being very productive and effective in the work from home environment. Look for project managers who have successfully led projects while possibly never having met their team face-to-face. Not everyone can do it – organization is key and being an excellent communicator is critical.


Virtual teams will be the most productive. If you have virtual teams already in place, then you are best prepared to immediately realize efficiency and productivity in your project delivery. That equals project success and customer satisfaction. Remember, the customer is affected as well and very stressed in situations like this. You want to ease their minds that your project will be successful. Having talented individuals working remotely already delivering projects will help them stay confident and stay long term project clients for your organization. Be ready to deliver when events like this happen. Use it as selling point going forward. Embrace the fact that when this is all over remote projects, remote workforces and virtual teams may be the new normal and it's a good thing. You can get the best workers now without having to bring them onsite to work. Costs can go down while productivity goes up. It can be a win-win situation.


Organizational leadership will be affected. No doubt that organizational leadership will be affected. Will senior management be available to help make decisions on projects? Do you have great communicators and experienced decision makers in place leading teams and projects so reliance on senior leadership during emergency situations like this is kept to a minimum? They are going to have many things to worry about and remote teams that are prepared to run with the project and make key decisions are going to win and keep the project on track as needed. Plan for that in the organization's workforce makeup and teams must plan for that as a potential risk.


Summary / call for input


This pandemic is going on right now and more and more organizations are taking the drastic measures necessary to help begin to mitigate the spread of the virus. Will this happen again in our lifetimes? It could. Will a movement to remote work and remote teams and virtual workforces help on project delivery? I definitely think so... and I believe this current move will leave us in a new situation or scenario where work from home – especially for project delivery – will be the new norm. Organizations will see the benefits and productivity gains and employees will be confident that they can make it work and achieve a nice work/life balance.


Readers – what are your thoughts? Do you currently work from home? Does it work well for you? What issues do you see from remote work and remote project management that could make it fail or that need to be addressed and planned for? Please share your thoughts and experiences and discuss.

Seems like we've given up a lot of privacy concerns and identify theft concerns as well in the name of immediate feedback and realtime response. HIPAA (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) even seems to be less of a concern in order to easily get yours and your kids health records fast online including blood test results and ultrasounds etc.

​Security is an obvious concern and we are really exposing our vulnerable side in the name of easier online access, sharing and collaboration. AI can probably help with that, but I wonder how far out we are from real nice tight security, plus still easy and real time sharing of important and needed data. And hackers will likely still be always one step ahead of us anyway if they really want it.

... Is not going to save your project. There, now that I have your attention, let's talk software and projects. What do you use for your project software? One tool? Many tools? Open source? Home grown? Free? Expensive? Site license? Per user license? Small learning curve? Large learning curve? Desktop? Cloud-based? The options are almost endless. And now hundreds of players stand where just a couple stood 20 years ago. Can one of these save your project? Probably not. Let's discuss...


Project software these days comes from a lot of companies who are certain their offering is going to fix your project, task, resource, or financial management issues. Sometimes they have built it to solve their own scheduling and PM needs and feel they have now perfected it and it's ready to push to the waiting PM public. I've worked with some of these organizations. I've talked to the individuals behind the software and supporting it. Usually great people. And passionate. I've reviewed and overviewed their software. And sometimes it just happens that their emails start to bounce because sales just weren't happening or their product didn't really solve anyone else's needs like it did their own.


But who knows... it may work just perfectly for you. I believe that they all solve a need. PPM... task management... budgeting... resource planning... issue management... risk tracking... bug tracking. Does one software solve all needs? I haven't found one yet. Can you make it through a project without any of these? Yes, I believe so and I have. I wouldn't recommend it on large projects – at least use a scheduling... task management/progress tool. But yes, you can get by on one project or smaller projects without any real tools if there happens to be nothing available in your organization.


What do you really need to focus on?


If you have no specific software or your are bare bonesing it through a project on a wing and a prayer, what do you need to manage to get through? What should you focus most or all of your attention on? Because it isn't about what you do – it's about doing what you need to do to succeed and even excel but not go overboard, right? So, it's more about the best practices that are top priority. Let's consider those...


Managing tasks. The bottom line is this - you have to track the tasks. That is – right along with good communication – at the heart of every project no matter what shape, size, dollar amount, timeframe or industry it is in. You have to track the tasks and task progress and to do that just on paper would likely make the project essentially non-manageable. This may be the only project management task that I would say you could not just do on paper. It would make managing the team and their assigned tasks very difficult. You could use a spreadsheet, but that's still a tool.


Status reporting. Reporting status on the project is key to ongoing communication and keeping all team members, all stakeholders and the customer on the same page at all times. Any word processor will do, but if you're considering that a tool then you're resorting to email (I'm not taking that away from anyone in 2018) and that's ok too...and gives you easy revision, resending and tracking.




Managing the budget. Another tough task without any tool at all – I like to go basic and use a spreadsheet so I almost never budget within a specific project management focused tool. How about you – what do you use to track, manage, forecast and analyze project financials? I like my homegrown spreadsheet that has built in formulas and has been re-worked over time to do exactly and track exactly what I want and what my project customers and senior management have wanted over time. I'm open to change, but not really.


Communication. Communication is Job One – in my opinion – for the project manager and business analyst. It is at the bottom of success on every single project I've ever been a part of. If it goes poorly, so does the project and vice versa. But you can handle communication through phone calls, emails, and meetings if you need to. Just don't forget to listen – that's half of excellent communication.


Managing resources. Again, one of those tasks that I like to do with a spreadsheet. It's part of the project schedule in the tool, but for me only in so much as I ensure that project resources aren't overloaded on a project at any given time. Beyond that, forecasting who I need and for how long... I build that together with my above referenced awesome project financials forecasting and analysis spreadsheet. They go hand in hand on most projects and why is that? Because your human resource is usually your most valuable and expensive piece of the project puzzle.


Issues/and risks. Go with a list here. If you have no real issue or risk management (and I know they aren't the same thing) tool, then a list will suffice. I often end up just using an Excel or similar spreadsheet for this anyway... nothing in a specific PM focused tool. The key, of course, is to keep all issues on the radar, know who is working on each and what the status of each is. If it's a big enough issue, it's going to need a task on the revised project schedule anyway.


Summary / call for input


So, the best damn project management software available isn't going to save you or your project. It may make things easier, but until robots and artificial intelligence completely take over, it's up to us to make the difference between success and failure on the project – not the tool or tools.


Thoughts – do you agree with me and this list? You don't have to, but I'd love to hear feedback from you if you feel differently. Thanks!

Is that cutting edge Cybersecurity technology making your CSO drool and ready to pay boo coos of internal dollars on a bleeding edge tech project to showcase at the next user conference or Black Hat digital security convention? Is that latest platform recently available to showcase your web apps on recently available and ready for you to use?


Making a project come to life because of the technology that an executive wants to try or wants to say that his division is using is a bad reason to have a project. And I feel it goes against some sort of unwritten code of ethics for project managers but I will get to that in another article, most likely (these ideas have to come from somewhere).


Here's my take... never ever ever ever make the project about the technology. It can be awesome. And it can be disastrous. You can end up being in the latest tech magazine and your stock may soar. Or you may end up on the heaping pile of Ryan Leaf NFL busts in terms of tech failures. You may find that bust lands you with a headline on CNN about a tech startup losing a billion dollars on a failed project to implement a new security solution that ended up in security breeches, identity theft and lawsuits because your tech team wasn't quite ready to handle such a project. But then again, they say “there is no such thing as bad publicity” - there is always tomorrow to fix it or capitalize on it. Unless of course this bad decision put you out of business. Then there is no tomorrow.


So what do you do when it appears that the customer or your senior management wants to jump in head first because of the technology? For me, it comes down to these three things...


The end does not justify the means. Getting there isn't really half the battle. Getting there successfully with the right solution is the whole battle – the whole project. There is no half battle or partial project. It's all or nothing. It's not about the right process or the coolest technology or the headlines... good or bad. It's about the successful solution. I had one organization I was leading a project for where the client company was so excited about our solution we were implementing – the first of it's kind in their industry – that they went ahead and published go-live dates in a major industry publication under assumptions made with and by the account manager in our organization who sold them the project.


Unfortunately, those dates became the hard and fast - or “drop dead” - deliverable and implementation dates that I had to build my project schedule backwards from in order to complete and meet the deadlines. There were no other options and no option for me to put together the realistic schedule that I knew and my team knew we could meet safely and accurately. What happened? My team and I found ourselves working onsite at the customer location for two weeks just before Christmas working through issues to get to go-live on time. Blew through money (beyond budget) faster than Usain Bolt can run 100 meters, but we made it!


The desired technology may not be right. The obvious problem is that the desired technology – this bleeding edge choice for the solution – may not be the right technology. The project team needs to understand business processes, what the “as is” environment is and what the desired “to be” environment should look like and figure out if the customer's perception of the project is the true need or if the project is bigger (or smaller) and the customer request or need is merely a symptom of the real project. Then, and only then, can the project team step back and formulate the real project. Following that, they can – with the customer's input – identify what a technical solution should look like including what the proper technology to implement really is. Still hopefully a cool one, but it may not be what the customer is hoping for. “Backing into” the solution from the technology is the wrong way to go... it's like reading English from right to left... pretty painful... bad outcome... headaches.


The skill set may not be there. Finally, the team may not have the skill set to implement the desired technology. That doesn't mean it can't be done. But it probably can't be done without a change order to get the right resource or resources onboard – at least temporarily and probably expensively – for this specific project. Don't get me wrong, implementing a bleeding edge technology in any industry for the first time is feather in the cap of the delivery organization as well as a gem on the resume of the project manager, the business analyst and the entire project technical team. Win-win-win. And the customer organization comes out looking great, too. So if they want it, and it's the right technology for the project team and the customer is willing to pay for it – or your organization can see the benefits of the end publicity – then go for it. The return on investment (ROI) for all involved to eat some costs will be high.


Summary / call for input


The project is the project. That's what the team needs to focus on. It's like putting blinders on because sometimes the customer or senior management will interject their needs and desires and those may be in direct contrast to what is best for them and for the project – and they don't realize it. Stay focused on the successful end solution while taking all these suggestions along the way, but resist the urge to act upon them. At least not until you've ensured that they are the best roadmap to success.


Readers – have you had customer project scenario where it was all about the technology and the success of a new solution? How did you calm the enthusiasm while you sorted through the need to determine if that was the best path for the project. You can just proceed with the customer request as is, but if you get to the end and implement something that doesn't really solve the need, the onus is on the delivery team, not the customer.

I hate to call anyone a jerk. There's no getting around it... rude says one thing, but jerk sort of says it all while still keeping your language and integrity intact. You deal with someone who has less consideration for mankind than you do every so often, I'm sure. Both in your personal life and in your professional life. It's unfortunate, but it's life. And how you deal with it – or them – says a lot about you and keeping your responses and actions / reactions controlled can mean the difference between success and failure.


I had a fun moment on date night with my wife last week. I dropped her off in front of her favorite women’s clothing store in Downtown Summerlin in Las Vegas and began my mission of searching for an impossible to find parking spot to show off my awesome parallel parking skills. After losing out on four other spots that I noticed and tried not to run over texting shoppers to get to I finally located one and it was mine. Mine! Then the aggressive jerk behind me pulled as close to me as possible and waited trying to discourage me from backing into the spot. He didn’t know who he was dealing with. I waited, he waited. I put it in reverse and even backed up just enough so he noticed. He didn’t move. So I waited some more. He waited some more. Every vehicle behind him understood and left. Yet he stayed. I still had my reverse lights on. I even honked my horn a couple of times and politely waved him around. Still he stayed. Finally after about 5 minutes he got upset enough that he speed around me as fast as he could nearly clipping my vehicle in the process. Victorious, I took the parallel spot I had earned. Won actually. Yay for me.


Ok, in terms of project management I'm not talking about parking spots or road rage, and not really the team either, though that can be the case at times. It has been for me on my team a couple of times and with colleagues in the PM infrastructure a couple of times. I will get to those types of situations here as well. But it can be outsiders – maybe more like “extended relatives” in the PM world like stakeholders, senior management, customer team members, etc. Unfortunately, this probbly comes up more for business analysts than project managers considering the wide range of positions and individuals they must deal with and work with on a daily basis.


Now that I've established the population and genres that I'm about attack... let's do this. Here are some of the jerky situations I've found myself in, or colleagues have, or you may so I'm hoping to help here a bit... read on...


The figure head customer project manager. Have you ever had a project customer who placed a “project manager” on their side and it seemed like his only job was to be your watch dog? I have – really just on one major technical implementation. He never really contributed anything to the project – he just mimicked what I did, relayed what I said and emailed me a lot to check progress. The progress information was readily available to him in the weekly status I was producing and sending, the project schedule updates I was providing and the daily email updates I was sending out to all key stakeholders. So at the end of the day he cost the project a lot on the customer's side of the equation while apparently adding no value. He was often rude and sarcastic even though the project was going well but I knew it was in my best interest to move forward, not complain, and continue to provide him and the rest of the stakeholders with the same high quality and – often daily - updated status information I was already providing. The key is to stay in control, and control how you respond and interact.


The PM colleague who has advice for everyone – a.k.a, a better way of doing things. Have you ever had one of those colleagues who seems to know a better way of doing things and needs to interject that into nearly every conversation you have with them? I did once. It's almost amusing but it is certainly annoying. Especially when you really don't need the advice but it is somehow validating to them. The best response, stay heads down working and respond kindly. I'm never big on creating workplace drama – I like to avoid the drama as much as possible which is probably why I work so well remotely and managing virtual teams. I like the camaraderie with team and colleagues, but I can do that through email and Skype and video conferences just as well if it cuts out the 10-20% time lost to individuals who are focused on the negatives or other things that are not productive to my work, my team and my projects. I'm certainly not anti-people, but I am certainly anti- gossip, busy work, complaining and time-wasting. Avoid these people when possible, and politely keep working while they show up to vent or interject to you in your office. Stay in control of yourself and your actions – that is always the best route to take.


The customer who wants everything for free. I actually had this one happen just two weeks ago... again. It happens periodically on projects and in consulting engagements. Everyone wants free publicity and freebies or free project add-on work without thoughts that maybe your company will incur expenses getting this done for them or that maybe you even have kids to feed – like in my case. The client contacted me outright, not the other way around. I quickly drew up a proposal for him in the middle of the night because this was an international potential client and I wanted to respond quickly since he was likely near the end of his company's work day and seemed anxious to move forward. He quickly replied that he wanted the free version. I wasn't sure what he meant by “free version” but I replied, “great, you can have this work free with these other 'x' services.” His response? “No, I just want the free version.” I explained that either way it takes time and effort on my part. He still wanted the free version so I had to cut him loose even though I was still offering him a great value for what he really wanted. But I could not give it away. Sometimes you just have to walk away when they don't get it. Your time is worth more and you lose money giving too much time to those potential project clients who just don't understand the value. They probably never will. Cut your losses and walk away... unfortunately that's what I had to do.


Summary / call for input


Again, I consider myself a fairly nice guy and I'm very flexible and easy to work with unless you are A) Endangering my family in any way, B)Trying to mess with my project, or C) Trying to take my parking spot that is rightly mine (apparently after this current experience). Just be fair and others will be fair to you... usually. Sort of the golden rule, you know?


Readers, what is your take on this list? Do you agree? What jerks have you had to deal with and how did you handle the situation? Please share and discuss.

Does your organization handle large, complex technical projects? Do you have diversely skilled project teams assigned to those projects? How about overloaded project managers? Are they juggling several projects at once? This sounds like every organization I've managed projects in and every company that I've consulted for along the way. If this is your organization, too, then you likely need the best of the best in terms of a business analyst on each project being led and executed on for the project customers your organization is serving.


If you do need the “best of the best”, then what skills or characteristics are you looking for? What defines the best for your organization's project needs? While BAs are not project managers, the most successful BAs manage the entire business analysis effort. This means that the BA is proactive and dependency-aware. It also means they manage themselves well, the stay on track with respect to commitments and deadlines and can handle task delegation, decision making and issue management as needed on the project.


I've thought about the overall skill set and characteristics needed to pull this role off efficiently and productively and coupled it with my experience leading projects, working in combined project manager and business analyst roles I've come up with my list of ten characteristics of an awesome business analyst. As you are reading through these, please be thinking of your own personal experiences and comment with your additions to this list...


Great customer interface. The great business analyst is a critical liaison between the project manager and the technical team. This person is often the driving force behind the accurate, complete and detailed documentation of the final project requirements. Why? Because the organizational to tech cross-over ability and skills that many project managers will lack must be handled in this role. And they help the tech lead interpret those functional design ideas into technical design specifications for the design and development work on complex technical solutions.


Subject matter expert. The skilled business analyst is vital in his project team role as a subject matter expert. This helps him to work with the client to document accurate business processes that are then used to create detailed, complete, and accurate project requirements. The business analyst's technical knowledge coupled with his understanding of the design process and the likely end solution makes him an invaluable resource for the project manager the project team and the project client.


Good technical cross over. The very valuable business analyst has a diverse amount of technical knowledge. Not necessarily tech lead or developer knowledge, though that is a plus, but rather a very good technical acumen that gels with the project management-type organizational skills and knowledge he also likely possesses.


Can project manage it when needed. The indispensable business analyst can and often does act in the role of project manager both when the project manager may be tied up on another project and also when interfacing with the team and client and a decision needs to be made on the project's behalf and the project manager isn't currently available.


Critical attention to detail. Detailed oriented focus is needed by the business analyst on the project for a variety of reasons: to assist the project manager and fill in there as needed, to work closely with the customer sponsor and team and the project team to define and document requirements, and to help track and resolve issues throughout the engagement.


Skilled communicator. I've often said that communication is Job One for the project manager. However, communication skills are possibly the most important characteristic of the awesome business analyst if for no other reason than the vast responsibilities this position has on the project and with the team and customer. Miscommunication can lead to so many problems on the project and this role ends up interfacing with all stakeholders...making accurate and thorough communication necessary.


Facilitation skills. The business analyst is going to be required to facilitate many meetings and sessions during the project such as periodically leading the team meetings and formal project status meetings for the project manager and then requirements meetings with the customer as well as design sessions with the technical project team.


Experienced critical thinker. Business analysts are responsible for evaluating multiple options before helping a team settle on a solution. While discovering the problem to be solved, business analysts must listen to stakeholder needs but also critically consider those needs and ask probing questions until the real need is surfaced and understood. This is what makes critical thinking and evaluation skills important for the business analyst on the project.


Skilled with PM and organizational tools. The business analyst needs to have a good command of the use of various project management related tools such as project scheduling software, basic tools like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and others that might be needed such as task management software, bug tracking software, risk management software, file management software, and even modeling tools like Visio, etc.


Conflict resolution. From time to time conflicts can arise. I'm not talking about fisticuffs...at least I hope not. But disagreements among technical team members or with members of the customer's staff can arise. The skilled BA will recognize this quickly and work with both sides to come to a mutual agreement. Patience is also a virtue...because any conflict resolution requires patience and understanding. And good listening skills.


Summary / call for input


The business analyst isn't necessarily the leader on the project, but his role may be the most diverse and sometimes the most critically necessary for project success. The project manager will serve as the overall communicator and decision maker on the project, but the business analyst will likely have an even closer customer facing role than the project manager...meaning this position may be the most valuable in helping ensure customer satisfaction and completeness and acceptance of project work performed by the project team.


How about our readers? If you're a business analyst, what do you think about this list? What would you add to or remove from this list? What are your top 3 or top 5 characteristics for a valuable business analyst? Some organizations – often smaller organizations – may only hire a project manager or business analyst to handle both roles. Have you worked with such an organization and did you find it to be successful?

You know how the old saying goes. “The customer is always right!” How many times have you heard that expressed over and over again by a disgruntled customer or friend who feels they received less than a fair deal from some vendor? Now think about that in terms of a project engagement where tens of thousands of dollars and possibly even millions of dollars are at stake. How do you think that paying customer feels about service and being told they’re not always right?


Usually the customer either comes with a set of detailed requirements or you must extract those requirements from them. Either way, they definitely come with a problem that has necessitated the project you are about to embark on with them. But are they right? And should you point out that they aren’t if you’re concerned they’re going down the wrong path. The answer is yes, definitely. Here’s why…


They may be chasing a symptom, not the real problem


When the customer comes to you with the need, no matter how certain they may be of that need, it is still your job to ask questions. Discuss the need with the project sponsor. Meet with the end users to identify what they feel the issue or need is. The real need may be deeper – the customer may only be coming to you with a symptom of the real problem. If you don’t tell the customer they are wrong and solve their real need, you may be only putting a band-aid on the real problem and when that becomes evident, you’ll have a very frustrated and dissatisfied customer on your hands.


They may be selecting the wrong technology


Many times someone at the customer organization – possibly even the project sponsor – comes forward with a project and they are certain that a particular ‘latest technology’ is the perfect solution for them. This is usually the result of something they’ve been told or have read about. Indeed, that technology may truly be what is needed, but it is still the delivery team’s responsibility to dive into the detailed requirements for the project and verify that the technology the customer is requesting is really the best way to solve the problem. Often times when the customer has pre-selected the technology for the solution, it is not the best technology to use and a red flag should be raised.


They may be asking for add-ons they don’t need


On the delivery side, we always want to avoid ‘gold-platting’ the solution. When we gold-plate, we deliver add-ons that aren’t part of the requirements and they end up costing us on the delivery side and putting the project budget in danger.


What we’re talking about here, though, is the other side of the coin. The customer can be asking for add-on services or functionality as part of the solution that they don’t really need. Indeed, the solution delivered ‘as is’ may meet their needs – such as providing a needed report through the basic implementation making it unnecessary for them to pay additional fees to have custom reports developed. It’s our duty on the delivery side to identify those situations, alert the customer and work to keep the customer costs as low as possible.


Summary


The bottom line is that you as the project manager and your skilled project team are the real experts. That’s why you’re being hired to work the project and deliver a solution. The customer may have come into the engagement thinking they needed ‘x’ and you’re telling them they need ‘y’. But it’s your job to tell them that and to deliver an end solution that meets their needs…whether it’s a cheaper solution than they anticipated or a more expensive one. Then let them decide with you on how best to proceed.

How is PM success defined? What skill set or character traits do I need to become a good project manager? Ever individual who is considering entering the field should ask this question of themselves, their colleagues, and some PM experts. The field isn’t easy and it definitely isn’t for everyone.


As I’ve managed and succeeded and failed my way through about 20 years of IT project management, I’ve made mental – if not always written – notes of what works and what doesn’t and what qualities in a person seem necessary in order to succeed in this career. And while I’ve worked on this list more than once and it’s not the same every time, I can say that what I consider to be key personal traits or characteristics of a good project manager generally boil down to these four qualities. There are definitely more – and I’m open to your arguments, thoughts, and suggestions, but here’s my list…


Communicator. This is the top one for me. In my opinion being an efficient and effective communicator is the number one role the project manager must play. If you can’t communicate well with your project team, your project customer, and your senior management, then you shouldn’t be in this business. You’re going to get weeded out early or eaten alive during your first project kickoff meeting. During one requirements meeting I had a business analyst who was reduced to tears because that person was taking everything personally and not communicating requirements and expectations well or controlling the room. A good BA because of the combo of technical and business skills, but not project manager material. I’m still trying to block that project from my mind.


Negotiator. Issues arise on every project. I think every project I’ve ever run required scope changes and change orders. Negotiation is just part of the PM game. It always will be. So a good project manager must be ready to leverage business practices, technical knowledge, project status, and customer needs to keep the project headed in the right direction. It may require different resources, more money, a phased approach…whatever it takes it will almost always require some give and take…some negotiation. This is a key skill that must be there.


Confident leader. The project manager must exude confidence. I don’t mean an ego trip. But they must be a confident leader. I usually have a bunch of very talented technical people on my project team and they all have big egos. It helps to be technical when leading those resources…no doubt about that. But you must also be confident, take charge, and lead them. Otherwise your team will go over your head with the customer, with your management, etc. to get things done. You must lead them.


Stubborn. This may seem odd, but it is important. It is broad. You must be a good decision maker. But it goes beyond that. You must also be stubborn. Stick to your decisions. Why? Because everyone from the customer paying for the implementation down to the developer building it will question you along the way. If you’re weak and not stubborn, you could end up changing your mind many times and the end result will be a project thrown off track by an indecisive leader who isn’t long for this career path.​