How can you use earned value management to improve team collaboration?

1 What is EVM?

EVM is a method that integrates scope, schedule, and cost data to track and evaluate the status and health of your software projects. It uses three key metrics: planned value (PV), earned value (EV), and actual cost (AC). PV is the budgeted amount of work that should have been completed by a certain date. EV is the value of the work that has been actually completed by that date. AC is the amount of money that has been spent on the work. By comparing these metrics, you can calculate other indicators, such as schedule variance (SV), cost variance (CV), schedule performance index (SPI), and cost performance index (CPI). These indicators help you identify whether your projects are on time, on budget, and delivering the expected value.

2 Why is EVM important?

EVM is important because it helps you align your software project portfolio with your strategic goals and objectives. It also helps you communicate effectively with your stakeholders, sponsors, and team members about the status and performance of your projects. EVM enables you to monitor and control your projects, identify and mitigate risks, and make informed decisions based on reliable data. EVM can also help you improve your project management maturity and capability, as well as your organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

3 How can EVM improve team collaboration?

EVM can improve team collaboration by fostering a culture of transparency, accountability, and learning. It can help you create a common language and a shared understanding of project goals, scope, schedule, and budget among team members. EVM can also assign clear roles and responsibilities to team members and measure their contribution and performance based on the value they deliver. Furthermore, it can collect and analyze data from projects to identify issues, gaps, and opportunities for improvement, as well as conduct regular reviews and retrospectives to implement lessons learned and best practices across the project portfolio. This can enhance trust and confidence among team members and stakeholders, reduce ambiguity and confusion, motivate and empower team members, foster a sense of ownership and commitment, enhance skills and knowledge, as well as foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

4 How to implement EVM in your software projects?

In order to implement EVM in your software projects, there are four primary steps to follow. Plan your project by defining the scope, schedule and budget, breaking down the work into units, and assigning a value or weight to each unit. Execute the plan by monitoring and recording EV and AC for each unit and the entire project, tracking changes or deviations, and updating PV, EV, and AC. Analyze the results by comparing PV, EV, and AC; calculating SV, CV, SPI, and CPI; interpreting the results; and identifying any trends, issues or risks that could affect performance or value. Finally, act on the findings by communicating them to stakeholders using clear language and visual aids; taking corrective or preventive actions; and adjusting the plan as needed.

5 What are the challenges and limitations of EVM?

EVM is a powerful and useful technique, but it also has some challenges and limitations that you need to be aware of and overcome. Data quality can be affected by human errors, biases, or assumptions, as well as technical issues. Additionally, EVM can be complex and time-consuming to implement and maintain, particularly for large or agile software projects. Moreover, EVM can provide you with valuable insights and information about your project status and health, but it cannot tell you the whole story or the root causes of your project issues or risks. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that data is collected, validated, and verified in a consistent and systematic way, and that you have the necessary skills, resources, and support to apply EVM effectively. You must also use your judgment and experience to interpret and evaluate your EVM results, as well as complement them with other qualitative and quantitative measures.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?