Project management principles brown-bag session

12th April 2007

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Contents
What is project management The importance of communication

The importance of understanding scope

Getting the project started Managing the project

Getting the best from the project team

The project managers toolkit

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What is project management

What is project management?

What differentiates good project management from bad?

How can success be measured?

What is the difference between portfolio vs. programme vs. project vs. work stream/package?

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What is project management

What is project management? A way of managing tasks, and of managing resources Solely focused on a specific outcome and when this outcome is achieved the project ends Defined start and end points Typically there are limited resources (e.g. money and peoples time) to deliver the outcome When the outcome is delivered, something will (should!) have changed What differentiates good project management from bad? Communication skills (listening and talking) is the key differentiator between average and great project managers How can success be measured? Completion of agreed deliverables and delivery of benefits, on time and on budget, and to the agreed scope and quality Customer is satisfied

What is the difference between portfolio vs. programme vs. project vs. work stream/package?
Scale
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The importance of communication

Think about, plan and execute your communications with care, effort and impact Your communications with your customer must be based on an understanding that goes beyond the requirements specification and sharing regular status reports Your communications with the project team must go beyond sharing the project plan and regular team updates
Identify and assess your audiences information needs. Identify who is your customer and plan your interaction with them Identify your stakeholders: Sponsor Financier Beneficiary and other people impacted End user

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The importance of understanding scope

The foundation on which all good projects are built is a clear understanding of the scope. Without it a project manager will struggle to deliver successfully
The scope of a project can be best understood by going through a set of structured questions with your customer: What is the overall objective of the project? What are the specific deliverables? How is the customer going to measure success at the end of the project? What, from the customer viewpoint, can flex? What are the constraints/inter-dependencies on the project? How does the customer want to work with you? Are there any implicit requirements, assumptions or needs that the customer has not documented in the requirement documents? Never be creative with your customers requirements, but always look for creative ways to deliver those requirements

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Getting the project started

The way you plan and resource your project will set the framework and constraints within which you will operate throughout the project. Take the time and effort to do it properly Planning Be prepared to change your plan the measure of success is not an unchanging plan, but meeting the end goals within the reality of continuous change Having contingency built into a plan is essential and is not a sign of poor project management. The critical factor is how much contingency, and how you allocate and manage this. Contingency should relate to the degree of risk of your specific project Resourcing Budgeting Considering risk Mobilising

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Managing the project

A project manager should: Understand what is to be managed Have a mechanism to understand when management action is required Implement action when information tells that action is necessary In practice, not all ideal environmental conditions will be achieved and as a project manager you must learn to deliver in sub-optimal situations managing a variety of constraints and compromises Five things should be managed: Your customer The scope The time the project is taking to deliver The resources you are using to deliver The quality of the work done The management levers you have at your disposal are: Change the way the team are working Change the resources on the project Change the scope of the project Change the plan or approach Make decisions and escalate

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Getting the best from the project team

One of the main tasks for the project manager is to manage and motivate the project team to deliver the project. A project manager, above all else, is a people manager.
Right people, right skills and right tasks Clear definition of roles and responsibilities Manage poor performance Motivating and building the team Align team member development needs with the needs of the project Be aware of team dynamics and politics Project team management challenges Try to work in close physical proximity Consider the approach to the management of geographically remote and part-time team members

part-time

specialists,

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The project managers toolkit

Business case Project charter (which includes the contractual terms and conditions)

Stakeholder map
Communication plan Gantt charts (project plan) Critical path analysis Status reports Earned value analysis Risk and issue registers/logs Change control log Project close-out report
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