Project Management

Present by:
Overview

2
Contents

 Project Management Overview

 Initiating the Project

 Project Planning Basics

 Advanced Planning Techniques

 Controlling the Project

 Closing the Project

 Juggling Multiple Projects and Dealing with Project

Overload

 Conclusions

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Project Management Overview

Initiate: What is the challenge or

problem?

Plan: How should we go about it?

Control: Are we on track?

Close: Finish the job, assess how

we did, and capture lessons learned.

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Project Management as a Process

Initiate the project. recognize that a project should be done;

determine what the project should accomplish; launch the
project with a Project Charter; create the team that will work
on the project

Plan the project. Project planning is the process of

developing a detailed plan for the project that includes the
task list, resource assignments, schedule, budget,
communication plan, risk plan, and change control process

Control the project during execution of the work

keep the project on track. The project manager coordinates
and communicates with the project team and senior
management and makes sure that the work is done on time,
within budget, according to the project specifications and
requirements
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Project Management as a Process (cont)

Close the project: this final step consists of three distinct

activities
 Hand off. Ensure that the deliverable is handed off to the
customer.
 Recycle. Make sure that the hard-earned lessons learned
during the project are passed on to others.
 Celebrate. Reward the team and celebrate success

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A Few Basics before Proceeding

 defined starting and ending point

 specific
 well-defined objectives

Project management is getting the job done on time, within

budget, according to the specifications!

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Value of Project Management

 It establishes a single point of contact and

accountability for the overall success of the project
 It focuses on meeting customer needs and
expectations
 It improves performance in time, cost, and technical
areas
 It obtains consistent results through the definition and
application of a process across the business unit
 It focuses on managing project scope and controlling
change
 It helps avoid disasters by managing risk
 It strengthens project teams and improves morale
 It improves bottom-line performance and grows the
business 8
Initiating the Project

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Initiating the Project

 verifies that all the information needed to begin the project

 summarizes the information in the Project Charter

The principal input necessary to launch a project is a

requirements document of some sort:
 Written specifications;
 Customer contract;
 Request for proposal;
 Job order;
 Service request;
 E-mail directive;
 Any other document expressing the need or objective
of the project

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Process block diagram with the
initiation steps highlighted

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Is It a Project?

 Does it have a clear beginning and end?

 Is there a specific, measurable objective?
 Is it a one-of-a-kind effort requiring a customized
solution?
 Does it require a quick response?
 Does it require coordinating and managing several
interdependent elements, organizations, or
resources?

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Project Start-up

 Will I do all the work, or will others contribute?

 Who will be on the team?
 Who will use the end product?
 Who will specify the requirements?
 Who will approve the final product?
 Who's paying the bill?
 How available are the others involved?
 Do I have the authority to ask for help?

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Project participants

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Project Manager

 What makes a great project manager?

 Commitment to the project and team
 Communication skill
 Customer focus
 Decision-making ability
 Problem-solving ability
 Conflict management ability
 Ability to energize others
 Ability to persuade and influence
 Ability to take the initiative
 Flexibility
 Leadership ability

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Project manager's responsibility and
authority

Responsibility
 Act as the central point of contact for all formal, project-
related communication
 Ensure that all project team members are aware of their
responsibilities and commitments, and that they perform as
promised
 Ensure that all contractual commitments are fulfilled on
time, within budget, and to the customer's complete
satisfaction and delight
 Prepare a realistic, detailed Project Plan and obtain
agreement to the plan
 Maintain a Project Repository containing all relevant project
information
 Control cost, schedule, and technical variance from the plan
 Report project status to management on a regular basis
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Project manager's responsibility and
authority (cont)

Authority
 Authority to lead the project team
 Direct access to stakeholders on all matters pertaining to
the project
 Authority to require periodic status reporting
 Authority to monitor the time, cost, and performance
activities on the project and ensure that all problems are
identified, reported, and solved
 Authority to cross functional organization lines and to
interface with all levels of management as necessary to
achieve project success
 Authority to renegotiate with functional managers for
changes in resources

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Establish the Project Repository or Binder

 Project Charter
 Kickoff Meeting Documentation
 Project Plan
 Work Breakdown Structure
 Project Schedule
 Project Budget
 Resource Plan
 Communication Plan
 Change Control Plan
 Risk Plan
 Status Reports
 Change Requests/Approvals
 Meeting Minutes
 Lessons Learned
 Closeout Checklist
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Before Proceeding, What Do You Need to Know?

What is it? What are we going to produce? What is the

deliverable?
Who needs it? Who is the customer?
Why are we doing it? What is the underlying problem we are
trying to solve or opportunity we are pursuing?
Am I accountable for the project's success? If I'm not, who
is?
What is my authority for making this happen? If I don't have
the authority, who does? Why don't I? How can I remedy this
deficiency?

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The Project Charter

 Project Name
 Project Sponsor
 Project Manager
 Customer
 Other Project Stakeholders
 Stakeholder Responsibilities
 Business Objectives
 Project Objectives (SMART)
 Deliverables
 Project Completion Date
 Project Budget
 Assumptions
Linkage to Strategic Objectives and
Other Projects
 Distribution of the Charter
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Transition to the Planning Phase

After the charter has been signed and distributed, the project
manager is ready to begin building the project team, which will
then help develop the Project Plan. If you are on a very small
project, you and the team may be the same thing! Much of the
information contained in the charter will carry over into the plan,
but the plan is more detailed and provides the roadmap the team
will use to complete the project successfully

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Project Planning Basics

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Project Planning Basics

it should include coverage of the following elements

 Project summary: A short executive-level summary of the
project origin and objectives
 Work breakdown structure (WBS): The task list
 Resource assignments: Who is going to do the work
 Project schedule: The detailed schedule and project completion
date
 Project budget: How much money is allocated to the project
 Risk assessment: What could go wrong and what actions and
reserves should be included in the plan to mitigate the highest-risk
events
 Communications: How the team plans to communicate, meet,
and report status
 Change control process: How changes will be handled

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Project Planning Basics (cont)

The major deliverable from the planning step is the Project

Plan, which defines in detail:
 What is to be done (the WBS)
 Who will do the work (resource assignments)
 When the work will be accomplished (the project
schedule)
 How much the project will cost (the budget)
 How the project will be managed in terms of scope
change control, status reporting, and overall control of
variances

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Project Planning Basics (cont)

How Much Time Should Be Devoted to Planning?

 often asked how much time should be spent in

planning
 devote just enough time to planning to get a clear
understanding of what is required to achieve the
project objective
 should spend a minimum of 5 percent of the
project duration on planning

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Forming the Core Team

The most important element of a project is the team.

Accomplish the following to have any chance of forming a
cohesive team:

 Identify key team members based on the nature of the work.

 Obtain team members' commitment.
 Assign roles and responsibilities within the team.
 Ensure that the team has the necessary resources.
 Conduct a kickoff meeting to make the team tangible and generate
excitement and commitment (and pass out those T-shirts!).

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Planning Activities

 Review Project Requirements

 Clarify Roles and Responsibilities
 Conduct the Project Kickoff
Meeting
 Create the Work Breakdown
Structure (WBS)
 A Word on Project Management
Software
 Assign Resources
 Schedule the Work

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Conduct the Project Kickoff Meeting

 Start the meeting on time.

 Achieve the objectives by using an
agenda.
 Finish the meeting on time

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Kickoff meeting checklist
 Prepare a summary of the meeting's goals
 Prepare an overview of the project that summarizes the business
requirements
 Arrange for the project sponsor to speak for 10 to 15 minutes on his
or her perspective on the importance of the project
 Discuss roles and responsibilities of all team members and other
stakeholders, if any
 Discuss communication. What information needs to be exchanged?
Who needs to have it? What form will it take
 Using the project schedule from the charter as a guide, discuss
schedule challenges
 Schedule a planning workshop for the core team to create the
Project Plan
 Determine what follow-on action is required from the kickoff, and
plan to assign responsibilities accordingly so that project planning
may proceed
 Bring food

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Create the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

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WBS - Example

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A Word on Project Management Software

Project
Task
Work
Sheet

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Assign Resources

 Who and what do we need to make the project a success?

 Who is actually available?
 How can we make up the shortfall if resources aren't
available when needed?
 Will resource constraints cause a schedule slip or budget
overrun?

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Schedule the Work

 Create a work breakdown structure to the task level

 Specify the person who will accomplish each task, as
discussed earlier
 Establish the dependencies between and among the tasks
 In consultation with the responsible team member
 Add task completion dates to the project task worksheet
 Create the overall project schedule and completion date

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A Plan for Tracking Task Completions

To summarize where we are in planning, we have created

the list of tasks-the WBS-and have, for each task, added
the person who will perform the work ('by whom' on the
spreadsheet) and the completion date ('by when'). We're
making great progress, but we need a plan for how we will
track completion dates later when work begins.

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Advanced Planning Techniques

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Advanced Planning Techniques
Gantt chart
There are two other
popular methods of
portraying and
tracking task
completions:
the Gantt chart and
the logic network,
PERT chart

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Logic Network

Network Diagrams

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Risk Planning

'What could go wrong on this project?' At a minimum, consider

the following questions when putting the plan together:
 Are the customer's requirements well understood and
documented?
 Are costs and time estimates detailed or top down?
 How likely is the project scope to change?
 Will resources be dedicated to the project, or will they be
available only on a part-time basis?
 Will key resources be reassigned or otherwise lost to the
project?
 Will deadlines be pushed out by the customer or others?
 Will the customer be responsive and meet key milestones?
 Will we have technical problems?
 Have we addressed the effects of single-point estimates and
path convergences?
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Risk Analysis

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Risk Management Template (cont)

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Communication Planning

An essential element of every plan should be a discussion of

the ways the team will communicate during the project and
how status information will be communicated to project
stakeholders

Poor communications result from two primary factors:

 We get so busy that we forget or fail to keep the
information flowing
 The project manager fails to plan for the exchange of
information

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Communication Planning (cont)

The Project Plan should always include a paragraph or two

describing the following elements:
 Who needs information?
 Why do they need it?
 What do they need?
 When do they need it?
 What form should the communication take?
 When should the project team meet to discuss status,
problems, and so on?

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Weekly
Project
Status
Memo

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Change Control Process

The change control process should include the following:

 All changes must be submitted to the project manager on a
change request form or e-mail.
 Changes are logged in using a simple spreadsheet.
 The team assesses the impact of the change on schedule,
budget, and specifications.
 The impact is discussed with the requester.
 The proposed change is discussed with the sponsor and
customer.
 The change is either approved or disapproved, and the
requestor is notified of the decision.
 Stakeholders are notified of the change.
 The change is incorporated into the Project Plan and
deliverables.
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Change
request
template

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Controlling the Project

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Controlling the Project

Control Activities

Now for the hard part. The project is under way, and things
are happening. Tasks are being worked on, problems arise,
changes occur. What seemed clear and manageable is now
becoming blurred and hard to get our arms around. We are
deluged with information- task completions, task delays,
issues needing attention, and meetings to attend. Our
challenge is to stay in CONTROL

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Process
block
diagram
with the
control
steps
highlighted

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Controlling the Project (cont)

 Manage Technical Performance

 Communicate Achievements and Project Status
 To Meet or Not to Meet-That Is the Question
 Meet one on one to resolve individual problems.
 Meet as a group to discuss issues of joint concern and get input
from team members.
 Manage Cost, Schedule, and Resource Variances
 Apply more or different resources to tasks that are behind
schedule
 Reconfigure the Project Plan so that tasks are accomplished in a
different sequence or in parallel
 Change or reduce the scope of work
 Manage Risks and Issues
 Manage the Project Team
 Manage the Customer Relationship
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Control Changes

Every sizable project will experience changes in technical design,

schedule, estimated costs, resources, or other project aspects.
However, if those changes are not carefully and rigorously
controlled, the project can easily get out of control, as depicted
below:

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Control Changes (cont)

These are the essential steps in the change control process to

minimize scope creep

 Change request submitted.

 Change request logged in.
 Impact on Project Plan assessed.
 Sponsor approves or rejects.

Documentation is changed if approved, and team is informed

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Closing the Project

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Closing the Project

Project close is the last

phase of the project life
cycle. The project is
considered complete when
the project manager has
verified that all objectives
have been met and the
customer has accepted the
deliverables- but that's not
all. Remember the
Thanksgiving project? The
project manager still has a
few 'chores' to do after the
project has apparently been
completed

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Project close model

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Closing the Project (cont)

Hand Off
 Obtain Acceptance and Approval of the End Result
 Evaluate How Well Expectations Were Met
 Nail Down Loose Ends.
Recycle
 Capture Lessons Learned
 Informal Approach
 Formal Approach
 Recycle Reusable Information
 Establish an intranet site for lessons learned
 E-mail everyone on the project team
 Have the project manager and key team members attend
future project planning sessions to pass on lessons learned
in person
 Celebrate 56
Closing the Project (cont)

 Bring Closure
 Communicate Achievements
 Appreciate Everyone Involved

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Transition to Operations and Support
and Maintenance

The project is finished! You have rewarded the team, closed the
account, and made sure the customer is satisfied. One final check
before you go to your next assignment is to make double sure
that the deliverable and the customer are being supported by the
operations division in your company

Once you have reassured yourself and the sponsor that the
transition is complete, it's time to fold your tent and move on to
the next project. Great job!

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IT Governance
Overview and
Concepts
60