Episode 053: "Simple" Earned Value Project Management

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The Project Management Podcast™ is pleased to welcome Quentin Fleming (www.quentinf.com [Update: The web page is no longer available so we removed the link]) as our interview guest this week. Mr Fleming is an author, instructor and consultant to management, with over three decades of project management experience within private industry. He has particular expertise in the design of and the assessment of project management control systems and is the co-author of the best-selling book "Earned Value Project Management". We discuss the history and the the basics of earned value management as well as his approach to "Simple" Earned Value which he outlines in an article that he wrote together with Joel Koppelman. The 10 steps, which the authors define are:

• Step 1: You must define the scope (objectives and deliverables) of the project.
• Step 2: You must determine who will perform the defined work, including the identification of all critical procurements.
• Step 3: You must plan and schedule the defined work.
• Step 4: You must estimate the required resources and formally authorize budgets.
• Step 5: You must determine the metrics to convert planned value into earned value.
• Step 6: You must form a performance measurement baseline and determine the points of management control referred to as Control Account Plans (CAPs).
• Step 7: You must record all direct costs by project consistently with the authorized baseline budgets, in accordance with the organization’s general books of accounts.
• Step 8: You must continuously monitor the earned value performance to determine cost and schedule departures from the baseline plan: both schedule variances (earned value less the planned value) and cost variances (earned value less the actual costs).
• Step 9: Using earned value data, you must forecast the final required costs based on actual performance and keep management apprised so they can take corrective actions if necessary.
• Step 10: You must manage the authorized scope by approving or rejecting all changes, and incorporating approved changes into the project baseline in a timely manner.

This is the perfect episode to listen to after our introduction to earned value management, so if you haven't heard that one yet, make sure to add it to your podcast player. 

We also continue our book giveaway of two copies of Bas de Baar's book "Surprise! Now you are a Software Project Manager" and we have an announcement from PM Lessons Learned [Update: The web page is no longer available so we removed the link].