Why PMs should use EVM (Earned Value Management)

This week I have attended the monthly meeting of the Madrid PMI chapter. There were very interesting presentations this month. In this post I will refer to the one related to EVM. Two colleagues from the chapter attended recently the EVM world congress that took place in Valencia (Spain) and they exposed to us the presentations they made in the congress, and they told us as well about what topics and trends were discussed in the forum.

The presentation of one of them was focused on why PMs should use EVM in their projects. He based the presentation on his own experience about how he was able to control better his projects once he started applying EVM on them. Therefore, the first thing he says to all PMs that don´t use it is:

1- EVM is nice to have cause you will know more about the financial status of your project.
But, people say.... i don´t need to learn something as complex as EVM....

After this attitude from most of the PMs then he makes another attempt:

2- You are already using something similar in order to know the cost and progress of your projects.
But people say... EVM requires too much excel management

Therefore, finally he uses to apply as third attempt:

3- Use EVM is you need to control cost
And people say... well.... yes....

Because management wants you to control the cost of your projects... this is key... Controlling cost is KEY for our project sponsors!!!

And... you don´t need to use Excel for EVM... you can use many other tools, like.. MS project!!