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Taking the Watch (Monitoring and Controlling) • 129

a cost variance, and EV and planned value (PV) to determine if there is
a schedule variance. The formula for determining if there is a variance in
schedule is SV = EV – PV. A positive or negative SV indicates there is a
schedule variance. The formula for determining if there is a budget vari-
ance is CV = EV – AC. A positive or negative CV indicates that there is a
budget variance. These numbers are not meant to be definitive, but only to
alert the project manager that there is a variance and that further study is
needed to determine the cause.
Earned environmental value (EEV) is used specifically to determine if
there is any variance in the greenality aspects of the project. Why should
greenality have its own measurement? It doesn’t, not really. Using EEV,
the project manager looks at a specific greenality aspect of the project as if
looking at a specific task within the work breakdown structure. With the
Earned Value Management System (using EV), it is advisable to look at a
group of tasks across the project to determine an overall variance view of
either schedule or costs. For instance, looking at a group of six tasks at a
single point in time shows that some are ahead of schedule, some behind,
with a net gain of 0 perhaps. Earned environmental value management
(EEVM) is different because of the nature of the tasks involved. Although
green must be “built in,” many of the green aspects of the task can be sepa-
rated out, and for monitoring purposes should be managed as such. Also,
since they are markedly fewer in number than the rest of the project tasks,
analyzing them individually will not be an issue.
Other methods to collect data on projects include interviewing team
members to see if there is any effort, feature, or hope creep. Do all team
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members have traction on their tasks, or are they working as hard as they
can and not making any progress (effort creep)? Are there team members
who are behind on their tasks and are hoping to catch up (hope creep)? Are
there team members who have “gold plated” project requirements, adding
features that were not included in the scope of the project (feature creep)?
Watch for attitude issues here, on both sides of the spectrum. That is,
there may be those who are highly motivated, green-focused individuals
(so-called “tree huggers”) who may go overboard on the green aspects of
the project, and there may be those who are cynical and hesitant to work
on these aspects. Each presents their own set of problems. Be sure that the
team has bought into the green aspects of the project and are putting com-
mensurate effort—neither boycotting nor overemphasizing this work.
Other types of effective methods data for collecting qualitative data on
the green aspects of projects are interviews and focus groups. Interviewing