Projecting Professionalism Into Your Projects

by Robert Grossman

Just landed your largest installation project ever? No need to panic. Invest care in defining your objectives, planning, ordering materials, assigning roles and documenting to ensure success.

It seems like every time that we finish a job, our first reaction is to think of all the ways things would have turned out better if only we had done some things differently. Second-guessing is just human nature, as is learning from our mistakes. Meanwhile and all too soon, the next project is upon us, bringing our old friends mayhem and madness pounding at our door.

But here is where sitting back and exercising our gray matter can really pay off. I always figure that if I can solve the predictable problems, the surprises won't seem so bad. They still are, but I have the consolation of thinking, "Imagine how buried we'd be if I hadn't tried to think things out."

While you can never eliminate all of the surprises that will come your way, with a little thought and a well laid-out plan of action, you can certainly minimize the damage they can do. Such a plan includes establishing objectives, planning ahead, the timing of ordering equipment, delineating roles and documenting the processes.

Identify Goal, Resources, Obstacles
The first step in any type of project is to define your objectives. To do this, I ask myself four questions:

What do I want to accomplish? In simple terms, what is left when the dust settles?
What resources are at my disposal? Include people you could call in case of an "emergency." That way, if you see one coming, you can let them know ahead so they won't be surprised.
When do I expect the project to be completed? Not, when does the customer want me to be out of there, but my realistic assessment of the time frame. Remember, this is a battle plan that no one else needs to see; be realistic.
What obstacles can I expect to be thrown into my path? This last one is often a list that keeps growing. As these new obstacles appear, we often find ourselves going back to step one and starting over, so try and stay flexible.

Let's take a construction project, for example. Your goal is to build a house. The time frame: it should be completed by the end of the year. Your main resource: your brother-in-law Spike owns a construction company. As for the obstacle: the land is underwater (as is your brother-in-law). While not an attractive proposition, all of the components are in place.

All of these items are interrelated. If the time/obstacles/resources available are a problem, you may have to scale back or otherwise change the scope of work. Maybe the date of completion can be revised. Perhaps you need to look for other land (or build a houseboat). Perhaps Spike has friends who can help out. The important thing is to have all four pieces of the puzzle equal a complete, realistic picture.

Plan, Watch Everything Fall Into Place
Once the picture is in place, we are ready for the next step - planning. I figure that every hour I spend planning a project saves me at least 10 hours of aggravation down the road. I first make as complete a list of the components needed as possible. You'll need to order them sooner or later anyway, so you might as well do it now. Nuts, bolts, connectors, cable ties, touch-up paint - nothing is too small or insignificant. That item you figured you "can just run out to Radio Shack and pick up" will be the one dogging you some day.

Try and complete the drawings, charts and other instructions as if you were going to drop dead or catch the flu tomorrow. Your mind is always the most focused at this point - you're hyped up and anxious to get to work. Later, when you have 15 people shouting at you, a beeper that won't quit and a deliveryman that just did, you're bound to have trouble figuring what that little squiggle at the bottom of the page meant. Write it down or draw it out now, while you're thinking about it.

If your planning is done properly - everything is neatly laid out, ordered and waiting for Spike to "have at it" - you will be allowed the ultimate luxury (one you haven't had since your Uncle Hank paid you $2 an hour to help install burglar alarms when you were 12 years old): being able to blindly follow directions.

Don't think or try and figure out why you laid it out that way. Just follow the plans. Very often, we figure it out up front and second-guess ourselves to death when it's time to do the work. Have more faith in yourself and your experience, and let your mind move on to bigger and better things.

Have All Equipment, Materials on Hand
The third step is ordering the equipment and other items you'll need to get the job done. How you do this depends on the size of your company, how it operates and the items involved. If you order everything yourself, fine - just pick up the phone and go for it. If there are other people involved, things get more complicated. Here we come to another area where the proper planning can reap substantial rewards in the days or weeks to come.

Organize your list of equipment needed, not by manufacturer or type, but by source. For example, group all hardware items (electronic components, rental equipment, tools and clean-up supplies) together. Don't assume that the person ordering these items will know exactly where to go.

Jot down suggested vendors, including the phone number and contact person if handy. If you've already looked it up and it's on a little scrap of paper on your desk, don't make someone else duplicate your effort. If you've already gotten pricing, attach it, even if it was just a rough, over-the-phone ballpark estimate. Too often, we assume the person placing the order has our level of expertise and experience in dealing with this equipment - even if that were so, the extra information you provide certainly wouldn't hurt his or her feelings.

Sometimes, at this point, we need to assess the costs involved in purchasing equipment and parts. If the step above has resulted in two dozen vendors for three dozen parts, maybe some consolidation is in order.

I have worked for companies that had no idea what it cost in time and manpower to issue a purchase order - and this applies to both large and small companies. By ordering more items from fewer vendors, we may pay more per item but save time and aggravation. A real cost of $50 to $75 to process an order is not uncommon - all to save just $10!

Proper Scheduling Adds to Smooth Operations
Another important consideration is the scheduling of equipment arrival. If you simply request that everything arrive on the job site on the same day, you'll create more problems for yourself. Storing, security, damage - all of these problems can be avoided if you coordinate the arrival of the system components with the installation schedule. Let the suppliers handle your warehousing for you.

This assumes that your supplier will reliably ship the items when promised. If you have concerns about their reliability or are ordering the last widget to come off the assembly line for the next six months, by all means get it in your hands as quickly as possible. We must always balance just-in-time delivery with not-in-time added labor costs.

An alternative to this, again depending on the size of your company, is to establish a staging site. All the equipment gets shipped and placed in one specific area, pulled from that area, and taken or sent to the job site as needed. This increases the overhead in shipping and handling the equipment and materials but allows you the flexibility of testing and verifying items that may require extra attention.

Coordinate Your Team, Assign Clear Roles
Once the job is documented and the materials are ordered, the next step is to inform the various players of their roles. Sit Spike and the gang down and review all of your material with them. This is a good time to catch those little oversights (perhaps you forgot something silly like connectors and cable!).

I've done a lot of work with subcontracted labor, and have used this opportunity to try and bring them into the family and instill a sense of pride. Invite suggestions, answer questions, and take the time to make sure everyone understands what is going on (providing pizza and soda at these occasions is also an excellent investment). Again, time spent here directly relates to headaches saved later.

During the installation process, I like to look for ways that things could be improved. The company that boasts that they have done a zillion identical installations has never learned from any of them. Everyone involved with a project brings his or her own personality, skills, and techniques to the job, and each job is a learning process. As an effective project manager, your goal is to always be looking one step ahead. If you can actively look for better ways of doing things and seek out suggestions, you will be pleasantly surprised.

One consultant I knew designed large showrooms, overequipping certain areas and forgetting others in each one he did. It got to the point that industry people could look at a rack and tell who the designer was, not usually following that revelation with flowery compliments. If he had paid a little more attention to the installers and end users, that person could have avoided designing in the same mistakes over and over again - and might still be in business today.

Document Job's Progress, Train Users
As each aspect of a project is finished, some sort of acceptance test or punch list should be completed and documented as well. This allows you to close the book on a certain part of the job; when all of the books are closed, you can pick up your toys and go home.

If you wait until the entire job is finished before forwarding a bill to the customer, you are guaranteed that every little add-on and modification will have to be completed before the bill is paid. By having portions signed off along the way, you stand a better chance of at least getting partial payment, while remaining friends.

Perhaps the most enlightening part of managing a project for me has been training the end user how to operate a system. While large organizations may have separate training staff, or this work may be handled as a sales function, it is very helpful to step in and see the world from another perspective. By forcing yourself to explain operation of a system to someone whose technical background includes an 8-track player and a clock radio, you will be forced to assess your work in a new light. Perhaps labeling all of the power switches "Do Not Touch" isn't such a bad idea after all!

Even if it is not required, follow-up training is usually a good idea. By seeing what has been forgotten and what features gain constant use, you will be able to revise your initial training program and fill in the gaps. This is also an excellent time to gain user feedback and avoid future problems on other jobs.

Effective Management Brings Peace of Mind
While efficient project management seems like a good goal for your organization, try not to lose sight of the final, and perhaps, most important benefit of all - your own peace of mind.

By planning, discussing and actively evaluating each project, you can reduce the stress and fatigue caused by that next job. This has a dramatic impact on the ultimate bottom line - the amount of time you can spend with family and friends bragging about what a great job you did and how easy it was.

Originally Published:
4/2/2002, Security Sales & Integration magazine