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ReSEARCH on Project Management
ReSEARCH on Project Management
- Terms Used in Project Management
- Google Search Keywords: Project, Management Tools
- From http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380448,00.asp
- Ace Project
- Basecamp
- Huddle
- Zoho Projects 2
- From http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380448,00.asp
Organisations
Organisations
- Project Management Institute http://www.pmi.org/ - NFP membership association that developed PMBOK standard methodology
- Society of Project Managers Singapore - http://www.sprojm.org.sg/
- Project Management Institute Singapore Chapter - http://www.pmi.org.sg/ - Symposium, PD certifications
- Project Management.com - http://www.projectmanagement.com/
- Others
- Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards (GAPPS)
- The Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM)
- Project Management Institute, USA (PMI)
- Association for Project Management,UK (APM)
- Project Management South Africa (PMISA)
- Project Management Association of Japan (PMAJ)
- Asia Pacific Federation of Project Management (APFPM)
Businesses
Businesses
- http://www.lsaglobal.com/
Project Management Resources, Software and Tools
Project Management Resources, Software and Tools
- Applications and Software
- PBWorks: Online Team Collaboration - http://www.pbworks.com/
- Lists
- Capterra: The Smart Way to Find Business Software - http://www.capterra.com/
- 10 Free Project Management Applications - http://freelancefolder.com/10-free-project-management-applications/
- 10 Free Tools for Effective Project Management - http://www.smashingapps.com/2010/02/15/10-free-tools-for-effective-project-management.html (OpenProj/ dotProject/ GanttProject/ PHProjekt/ ConsultComm/ TaskJuggler/ Collabtive/ OpenGoo/ ProjectPier/ Redmine)
- Dapulse - http://dapulse.com/ - Project Management Tool
- Acunote - http://www.acunote.com/
- Clarizen - https://www.clarizen.com
- Smart Sheet https://www.smartsheet.com - free gannt chart
- Subscription based with rewards for referrals
- Google Apps based (From Google Apps Market)Place: https://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/search?categoryId=6&orderBy=RATING&pli=1
- Mavenlink
- Do by SalesForce
- Gantter Project
- Smartsheet
- Rapid Task
- Zoho Projects
- Google Drive Add-ons
- Gantter for Google Drive
- ProjectSheet Project Planning
- Tools and Templates
- Tools and Tempaltes from PMI - http://www.pmi.org/learning/tools-and-templates.aspx
- Excel Templates for Project Management from Vertex42 - http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/excel-project-management.html
- Project Management.com - http://www.projectmanagement.com/project-plans/
Concepts on Project Management
Concepts on Project Management
What is Project Management?
What is Project Management?
- Introduction to Project Management
- How Good are your skills?
- Program Management (Structuring projects as part of program)
- Iron Triangle of Project Management (Balancing budget, scope and schedule)
- Words Used in Project and Program Management
What are some Frameworks used in Project Management?
- Phases and Processes (Structuring)
- Planning Cycle (Medium sized projects)
- Logframes and Logical Framework Approach (Plan robust, coherent, success)
- How to write a Business Case (Getting approval and funding for project)
- Project Initiation Documents (Good start)
- Project Charters (Good Start)
- RFP Request for Proposal Documents (Better terms with competitive bidding process)
- Risk Impact/ Probability Chart (Learning to prioritize risk)
- Project Issue Management (Identify and resolve issues)
- Business Testing in Projects (Involve real users as important testing step)
- Benefits Management (Getting greatest possible benefit)
- Why do Projects Fail? (Learning how to avoid project failure)
- Rationalizing your Project Portfolio (Delivering Strategic Benefits with limited resources)
- Managing Project Finances (Understand and control Costs)
- Project Close Activities (End projects properly)
What are some Steps in Project Management
What are some Steps in Project Management
- Scheduling
- Project Schedule Development (Plan timing and sequence of project activities)
- Action Plans (Small scale planning)
- Planning Large Projects and Programs
- Gap Analysis (identify what needs to be done)
- Estimating Time Accurately
- Gannt Charts (Plan and schedule complex projects)
- Critical Path Analysis and PERT Charts (Complex more complex projects)
- Scope Management
- Business Requirements Analysis (Agree what you're going to deliver)
- Work Breakdown Structures (Mapping work within a project)
- Scope Control (Avoid changes in projects)
- Building Support for your Projects
- Stakeholder Analysis (Win support for projects)
- Stakeholder Management (Plan stakeholder Communication)
- Project and Program Governance (Use senior management support to ensure success)
- Working with Project Sponsors
- RAM Responsibility Assignment Matrix (accountabilities)
- RACI Matrix (Structuring accountabilities for max efficiency and results)
- Influence Maps (Uncover where power lies)
- Communication
- Project Dashboards (Communicate progress)
- Project Milestone Reporting (monitoring)
- Change Management
- How good are your Change Management Skills?
- Change Management (Making effective change)
- Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Change (Moving to high performance culture)
- Lewin's Change Management Model (3 stages of change)
- Beckhard and Harris's Change Equation (Overcoming Resistance to change)
- Using the Change Curve (Accelerating and improving change)
- Leavitt's Diamond (Integrated approach)
- Burke-Litwin Change Model (Dynamics of change)
- Kotter's 8-step change Model
- Changing people's Habits (Encouraging and sustaining new behaviours)
- Why Change can Fail
- SIPOC Diagrams (Ensuring change process serves everyone)
- Review
- AAR After Action Review Process (learning from actions)
- Post-Implementation Reviews
- Conducting Project Health Check
What are some Important Knowledge and Skills for Project Management
What are some Important Knowledge and Skills for Project Management
Leadership Skills
Team Management
Strategy Tools
Problem Solving
Decision Making
- Introduction to Decision Making Skills
- How Good is your Decision-Making?
- Decision Making Models
- Vroom-Yetton-Jago Decision Model (Deciding How to Decide)
- THe Kepner-Tregoe Matrix (Making unbiased, risk assessed Decisions)
- OODA Loops (Understanding the decision Cycle)
- Choosing Between Options
- Grid Analysis (Making a choice balancing many factors)
- Paired Comparison Analysis (Working out relative importances)
- Analytic Hierarchy Process AHP (Choosing by weighing up many subjective factors)
- Conjoint Analysis (Measuring buyer preferences)
- Pareto Analysis (80:20 rule to prioritize)
- Decision Trees (Choosing by projecting 'expected outcomes'
- Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix QSPM (Choosing Best strategic way forward)
- Deciding whether to go ahead
- Go/No-go decisions (Deciding whether to go ahead)
- Risk Analysis (Evaluating risks you face)
- Plus Minus, interesting (Weighing pros and cons of a decision)
- What If Analysis (Explore scenarios)
- Impact Analysis (Identify unexpected consequences of a decision)
- --> Cost/Benefit Analysis (Quantitative evaluation to follow course of action)
- Financial Decisions
- Cost/Benefit Analysis (Quantitative evaluation to follow course of action)
- Break-even Analysis (Determine when product becomes profitable)
- Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR) (Deciding whether to invest)
- Cash Flow Forecasting (test viability of a project)
Time Management
Stress Management
Communication Skills
Creativity Technique
Learning and Study Skills
Career Skills
- Post-Implementation Review PIR (Link)
- Purpose
- Measure level of success
- Continuous Improvement
- Improvements that can be made and Lesson learned are not forgotten
- Questions that can be asked
- Did the project fully solve the problem that it was designed to address?
- Can we take things further, and deliver even bigger benefits?
- What lessons did we learn that we can apply to future projects?
- When to Review
- when members of the project team remember the most – shortly after the project has been delivered, and when most of the problems have been ironed-out. Start to list ideas and observations while they are still fresh in people's minds.
- After a period of adjustment to overcome usual resistance to change, hold people's hands while they operate new systems, and eliminate technical problems that didn't emerge when deliverables were tested. Where possible, allow for at least one, full, successful cycle of business before reviewing lessons learned.
- What to Review
- Considerations
- Ask for openness – Make sure that people aren't in any way punished for being open.
- Be objective – Describe what has happened in objective terms, and then focus on improvements.
- Document success – Document practices and procedures that led to project successes, and make recommendations for applying them to similar future projects.
- Look with hindsight – Pay attention to the "unknowns" that are now known that may have increased implementation risks. Develop a way of looking out for these in future projects.
- Be future-focused – Not to assign blame for what happened in the past. This is not the time to focus on any one person or team.
- Look at both positives and negatives – Identify positive as well as negative lessons.
- When conducting the review, include the following activities:
- Conduct a gap analysis.
- Review the project charter to evaluate how closely the project results match the original objectives.
- Review the expected deliverables (including documentation) and ensure either that these have been delivered to an acceptable level of quality, or that an acceptable substitute is in place.
- If there are gaps, how will these be closed?
- Determine whether the project goals were achieved.
- Is the deliverable functioning as expected?
- Are error rates low enough, and is it fit for purpose?
- Is it functioning well, and in a way that will adjust smoothly to future operating demands?
- Are users adequately trained and supported? And are there sufficiently enough confident, skilled people in place?
- Are the necessary controls and systems in place, and are they working properly?
- What routine activities are needed to support the project's success?
- If there are problems here, how will these be addressed?
- How does the end result compare with the original project plan, in terms of quality, schedule and budget?
- Determine the satisfaction of stakeholders.
- Were the end users' needs met?
- Is the project sponsor satisfied?
- What are the effects on the client or end user?
- If key individuals aren't satisfied, how should this be addressed?
- Determine the project's costs and benefits.
- What were the final costs?
- What will it cost to operate the solution?
- What will it cost to support the solution in the future?
- How do the costs compare with the benefits achieved?
- If the project hasn't delivered a sufficiently large return, how can this be improved?
- Identify areas of further development.
- Have all of the expected benefits been achieved? If not, what is needed to achieve them?
- Are there opportunities for further training and coaching that will maximize results?
- Could you make further changes, which would deliver even more value?
- Are there any other additional benefits that can be achieved?
- Identify lessons learned.
- How well were the projects deliverables assessed, and how well were timescales and costs assessed?
- What went wrong, why did these things go wrong, and how could these problems be avoided next time?
- What went well, and needs to be learned from?
- Report findings and recommendations.
- What have you learned from this review?
- Do you need corrective activity to get the benefits you want?
- What lessons have you learned that need to be carried forward to future projects?
- Does this project naturally lead on to future projects, which will build on the success and benefits already achieved?
- Conduct a gap analysis.
- How to Review
- Define the scope of the review beforehand -The last thing you want to do is to create a political problem. Given the number of people often involved in a project, it's easy to hurt someone's feelings when reviewing the project's success. Clarify your objectives for the review, and make your intentions clear – this will better ensure that people share their experiences openly and honestly. Then make absolutely sure that you stick to these intentions, and that people's egos aren't unnecessarily bruised by the process!
- Review key documents – Gather together the key project documents. This will help you assess the project planning process, as well as the actual benefits achieved through the project.
- Consider using independent reviewers – Where possible, use outside people in your review process to get an objective, unclouded view of the project. Some people recommend using only independent people in the review, however, you can learn a lot from the perspectives of those who were directly involved in the project – this is why the best strategy is probably to have a balance.
- Use appropriate data collection – Collect information in the most appropriate way, for example, by using interviews and surveys. Also, test the deliverable yourself, to make sure you get firsthand information.
- Deliver appropriate reports – Report your findings, and publicize the results. Remember that the PIR is designed to help project managers conduct more effective projects in the future, as well as to measure and optimize the benefits of the specific project being reviewed.
- Present recommendations – Present the detailed recommendations to the organization and the project leaders, as well as to customers and other stakeholders. Include as many people as necessary so that you keep – and apply – the best-practice information in the future.
- As you plan your PIR, be aware of the costs and benefits of the review process itself. Interviewing stakeholders and customers, testing the solution, and documenting the results are time-consuming activities. Make sure the time and resources dedicated to the review are consistent with the project scope and its output, and that the potential benefits of conducting the review are worth the effort put in.
- Considerations
- Key Points
- A Post-Implementation Review (PIR) is conducted after completing a project. Its purpose is to evaluate whether project objectives were met, to determine how effectively the project was run, to learn lessons for the future, and to ensure that the organization gets the greatest possible benefit from the project.
- After a long project, the last thing many project teams want to do is relive the process and look for ways to improve. However, a forward-looking review can discover many tips and strategies for improvement.
- By conducting a thorough and timely PIR, you'll identify key lessons learned – and you can then apply those lessons to the planning and management of future projects.
- Purpose
The Generic Project Management Framework
- Phases and Processes (structuring in the form of a Table)
- Phase 0: Selecting Project management Methodology
- Phase 1: Project strategy and business case
- define the overall project business requirement
- propose the approach or methodology to address it.
- Phase 2: Preparation
- Complete a high-level Work Breakdown Structure.
- Determine the project's high-level plan at the milestone level. (Work with appropriate project team members to produce detailed plans at each subsequent phase. This ensures that they have a sense of ownership of these plans.)
- Identify and recruit project members.
- Produce the Project Initiation Document.
- Select third parties to use in the early project phases (for example, IT subcontractors or partners).
- Put actions in place to secure key resources. (For example, reserve rooms for the training phase, and allocate desks and PCs/printers for the project team.)
- Phase 3: Design
- Use the project strategy, business case, and Project Initiation Document as your starting point.
- Create project's deliverables
- Work with relevant stakeholders
- use a Flow Chart or Swim Lane Diagram to create a detailed map of how things will work.
- think through and deal with project issues before you start to build project deliverables
- Select stakeholders carefully for the detailed design phase.
- Phase 4: Development and Testing
- Phase 5: Training and business readiness
- Train users.
- Put in place ongoing support.
- Transfer data to new systems.
- Identify what's required for the project to be effective from the launch date,
- Phase 6: Support and benefits realization
- transitional support to the business after the project is launched
- Project teams quit or are assigned to other work too soon after the project has gone "live", meaning that project benefits are often not fully realized.
- Monitor the delivery of project benefits.
- Phase 7: Project close
- Complete and store documentation.
- Post-Implementation Review - use the experience you've gained in future projects.
- Transfer to Knowledge Management
- Process 1: Phase management
- Ensure conditions: deliverables that must be completed and approved by the appropriate stakeholders before completing each phase (identified in theProject Initiation Document
- Process 2: Planning
- High-level planning for the whole project at the start of the project,
- more detailed planning for each phase at the start of each phase.
- Ensure right people, resources, methodologies, and supporting tools in place for each planning phase, so that you can deliver the project on time, on budget, and to appropriate quality standards.
- Process 3: Control
- Process 4: Team management
- Process 5: Communication
- Clear on responsibilities: communicating to team members, the project board, the different stakeholderswithin the business, and relevant third parties. See communication skills
- Process 6: Procurement
- Managing hires of third parties to manage purchasing, particularly when it involves IT systems. Request for Proposal Documents and Procurement Management for more on this.
- Process 7: Integration
- Many projects do not stand on their own but impact other areas of the business.
- Consider how your project will interface with other projects or functions.
- Planning Cycle (Medium Sized Projects)
- Stage 1: Analysis of Opportunities
- SWOT
- Risk Analysis
- Understanding Pressures for Change
- Simplex Process using Creativity Tools
- Stage 2: Identifying the Aim of your Plan
- Vision and Mission Statement
- Thinking about
- What do I want the future to be?
- What benefit do I want to give to my customers?
- What returns do I seek?
- What standards am I aiming at?
- What values do I and my organization believe in?
- Stage 3: Exploring Options
- Creativity Tools
- Stage 4: Selecting the Best Option
- Grid Analysis
- Decision Trees
- Stage 5: Detailed Planning
- Gannt Chart
- Critical Path Analysis
- Plan that contains
- State the current situation.
- Have a clear aim.
- Use the resources available.
- Detail the tasks to be carried out, whose responsibility they are, and their priorities and deadlines.
- Detail control mechanisms that will alert you to difficulties in achieving the plan.
- Identify risks, and plan for contingencies. This allows you to make a rapid and effective response to crises, perhaps at a time when you are at low ebb or are confused following a setback.
- Consider transitional arrangements – how will you keep things going while you implement the plan?
- Stage 6: Evaluation of the Plan and it's Impact
- PMI (Plus/Minus/Interesting):
- Cost/Benefit Analysis
- Force Field Analysis
- Cash Flow Forecasts:
- "6 Thinking Hats":
- Stage 7: Implementing Change
- Stage 8: Closing the Plan
- Stage 1: Analysis of Opportunities
- Logframes and Logical Framework Approach (Plan robust, coherent, success)
- How to write a Business Case (Getting approval and funding for project)
Project/ Business Requirement Analysis - A 5 Step Guide
- Step 1: Identify Key Stakeholders
- Project Sponsors - Who has say over what?
- End-Users - Who will use the Solution/Product/Service
- Step 2: Capture Stakeholder Requirements
- Technique 1 - Conduct Interviews:
- Talk with each stakeholder or end-user individually to understand each person's specific views and needs.
- Technique 2 - Joint Interviews and Focus Groups:
- Conduct group activities to understand how information flows between different divisions or departments, and ensure that hand-overs will be managed smoothly.
- Technique 3 - Use Cases Scenarios:
- walkthrough of whole system or process, step by step, as a user. Helps understand how system or service would work and gather functional requirements. Multiple perspectives of users required
- Technique 4 - Building Prototype:
- Mock-up or model of the system or product to give users idea of what final product will look like. Users can address feasibility issues, identify any inconsistencies and problems.
- Technique 1 - Conduct Interviews:
- Step 3: Categorise Requirements
- Functional Requirements
- Defines how product/service/solution should function from the end-user's perspective. Describe features and functions with which the end-user will interact directly.
- Operational Requirements
- Defines operations that must be carried out in the background to keep the product or process functioning over a period of time.
- Technical Requirements
- Define the technical issues that must be considered to successfully implement the process or create the product.
- Transitional Requirements
- Steps needed to implement the new product or process smoothly.
- Functional Requirements
- Step 4: Interpret and Record Requirements
- Define requirements precisely – Ensure that the requirements are:
- Not ambiguous or vague.
- Clearly worded.
- Sufficiently detailed so that everything is known. (Project over-runs and problems usually come from unknowns that were not identified, or sufficiently well-analyzed.)
- Related to the business needs.
- Listed in sufficient detail to create
- a working system or product design.
- Prioritize requirements
- Some requirements are more important than others, and budgets are usually limited. Distinguish requirements are the most critical, and which are "nice-to-haves".
- Analyze the impact of change
- carry out an Impact Analysis to make sure that you understand fully the consequences your project will have for existing processes, products and people.
- Resolve conflicting issues
- Sit down with the key stakeholders and resolve any conflicting requirements issues. You may find Scenario Analysis helpful in doing this, as it will allow all those involved to explore how the proposed project would work in different possible "futures".
- Analyze feasibility
- Determine how reliable and easy-to-use the new product or system will be. A detailed analysis can help identify any major problems.
- Define requirements precisely – Ensure that the requirements are:
- Step 5
- Signature and Agreement of key stakeholders, or representatives of key stakeholder groups
- Precisely documenting requirements as presented precisely reflect their needs. This formal commitment will play an important part in ensuring that the project does not suffer from scope creep later one.
- The key to a successful business requirements analysis
- Identifying what the new system or product will do for all appropriate end-users/stakeholders – and to understand what they WANT the new system or product to do.
- Identify and resolve any conflicting requirements issues early on.
- Record it in a written document. This becomes the "contract" for creating the product or system that addresses all the needs of your business or your client.
- Signature and Agreement of key stakeholders, or representatives of key stakeholder groups
(For a Good start)
- Purpose:
- Defines your project and its scope.
- Justifies your project.
- Secures funding for the project, if necessary.
- Defines the roles and responsibilities of project participants.
- Gives people the information they need to be
- productive and effective right from the start.
- Project Charter Or project management methodology
- Project Initiation Document Checklist.
- Section 1: What?
- What the project is seeking to achieve. Problem that the project is seeking to solve, as well as a full definition of the project.
- Background:
- Context of the project, and why is the work needed?
- Briefly describe the idea or problem, and why this project is relevant and timely and how this project came to be.
- Project Definition
- Purpose: Why are you doing this work? Describe the desired end result of this project.
- Objectives: What specific outcomes will be achieved, and how will you measure these outcomes? four or five goals are typically enough.
- Scope: What are the boundaries for this project (for example, type of work, type of client, type of problem, geographic area covered)? The more specific the better
- Deliverables: What will the project deliver as outputs? Tangible items like reports, products, or services with date that each deliverable is expected to monitor milestones.
- Constraints: Considerations that will influence your deliverables and schedule? These are external variables that you cannot control but need to manage.
- Assumptions: What assumptions are you making at the start of the project?
- Section 2: Why?
- Build a business case to show why your project is going ahead. Describe the effect the project will have on the business, and support this with a detailed account of the risks that should be considered.
- Business Case
- Benefits: Why are you carrying out and what benefits do you expect it to deliver? How benefits will be measured. For more on benefits management, click here.
- Options: What other courses of action were considered as this project was designed and developed?
- Cost and Timescale: Provide a breakdown of project costs and related financing.
- Cost/Benefit Analysis: How are the costs of the project balanced against the expected returns? cost/benefit analysis, clickhere.
- Risk Analysis
- Risk Identification: Identify the risks within the project, and that you'll either need to manage or accept.
- Risk Prevention: Describe what you are going to do to mitigate or manage risks.
- Risk Management: What contingency plans and actions to take should the risk materialize?
- Risk Monitoring: What processes do you have in place to routinely assess the risks associated with your project?
- identify and manage risk, click here.
- Section 3: Who?
- How the project will be organized and managed. Identify reporting lines, and outline specific roles that will be filled. Staff roles so that you don't duplicate responsibilities, and so that everyone is clear about what's expected of them. For long-term projects: job descriptions for team members.
- Roles and Responsibilities
- Project Organization Chart/Structure: Diagram that shows the lines of authority and reporting for each project team member.
- Project Sponsor: Person with ultimate authority and control over the project and its implementation?
- Project Manager: What are his or her responsibilities?
- Project Team: Who are the key members of the project team? What are their roles and job descriptions? What are their phone numbers and email addresses? What is their original department or organization? And to whom do they report to on a daily basis?
- Section 4: How and When?
- Provide broad information about how the project will be implemented. Outline how the project will roll out by defining timelines, resources, and management stages. This is a high-level overview that will, as the project proceeds, be supported by more detailed project planning documents.
- Initial Project Plan (See Detailed)
- Assignments: What major tasks (with milestones) will be completed during the project?
- Schedule: Provide a report of the estimated time involved for the project. You've probably already prepared a high level Gantt chart or similar schedule, so the PID simply summarizes the anticipated schedule.
- Human Resources: How many days activity will be needed to complete the project? How many support staff will be needed? Will you need to bring more people onto the project team?
- Project Control: How will progress be monitored and communicated?
- Quality Control: How will the quality of deliverables be evaluated and monitored?
- Project Charters (Good Start)
- RFP Request for Proposal Documents (Better terms with competitive bidding process)
- Risk Impact/ Probability Chart (Learning to prioritize risk)
- Project Issue Management (Identify and resolve issues)
- Business Testing in Projects (Involve real users as important testing step)
- Benefits Management (Getting greatest possible benefit)
- Why do Projects Fail? (Learning how to avoid project failure)
- Rationalizing your Project Portfolio (Delivering Strategic Benefits with limited resources)
- Managing Project Finances (Understand and control Costs)
- Project Close Activities (End projects properly)
Scheduling
- Project Schedule Development (Plan timing and sequence of project activities)
- Action Plans (Small scale planning)
- Planning Large Projects and Programs
- Gap Analysis (identify what needs to be done)
- Estimating Time Accurately
- Gannt Charts (Plan and schedule complex projects)
- Critical Path Analysis and PERT Charts (Complex more complex projects)
Scope Management
- Business Requirements Analysis (Agree what you're going to deliver)
- Step 1: Identify Key Stakeholders
- External
- Internal
- Who will use the solution/product/service
- Step 2: Capture Stakeholder Requirements
- What do they want from this project?
- Each person considers the project from their individual perspectives.
- Be clear about basic scope of project and keep discussions within or end users may describe all sorts of functionality that the project was never designed to provide.
- 1. Using Stakeholder Interviews
- 2. Use Focus Groups
- 3. Use 'use cases': Use a scenario or case study to walk through the system to understand how the system, service, process would work.
- 4. Build Prototypes: mock up or model to give users idea of what final product will look like. Users can address feasibility issues and help identify inconsistencies and problems
- What do they want from this project?
- Step 3 Categorize Requirements
- Functional Requirements: Define features, functions and how a product/service/solution should function from the end-user perspective.
- Operational Requirements: Define operations that must be carried out in the background to keep the product/process functioning over a period of time
- Technical Requirements:
- Transitional Requirements: Steps needed to implement the process smoothly
- Step 4: Interpret and Record Requirements
- Define requirements precisely – Ensure that the requirements are:
- Not ambiguous or vague. Clearly worded.
- Sufficiently detailed (Project over-runs and problems usually come from unknowns that were not identified, or sufficiently well-analyzed.)
- Related to the business needs.
- Listed in sufficient detail to create a working system or product design.
- Prioritize requirements – Budget and resource constraints, most critical, and which are "nice-to-haves".
- Analyze the impact of change – Impact Analysis to understand fully the consequences your project will have for existing processes, products and people.
- Resolve conflicting issues – Sit down with the key stakeholders and resolve any conflicting requirements issues. Scenario Analysis allow how the proposed project would work in different possible "futures".
- Analyze feasibility – Determine how reliable and easy-to-use the new product or system will be. A detailed analysis can help identify any major problems.
- Define requirements precisely – Ensure that the requirements are:
- Step 5: Sign Off
- Si gned agreement of key stakeholders, or representatives of key stakeholder groups, saying that the requirements as presented precisely reflect their needs.
- Formal commitment ensures the project does not suffer from "scope creep"
- Step 1: Identify Key Stakeholders
- Work Breakdown Structures (Mapping work within a project)
- Scope Control (Avoid changes in projects)
Building Support for your Projects
- Stakeholder Analysis (Win support for projects)
- Stakeholder Management (Plan stakeholder Communication)
- Project and Program Governance (Use senior management support to ensure success)
- Working with Project Sponsors
- RAM Responsibility Assignment Matrix (accountabilities)
- RACI Matrix (Structuring accountabilities for max efficiency and results)
- Influence Maps (Uncover where power lies)
Communication
- Project Dashboards (Communicate progress)
- Project Milestone Reporting (monitoring)
Change Management
- How good are your Change Management Skills?
- Change Management (Making effective change)
- Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Change (Moving to high performance culture)
- Lewin's Change Management Model (3 stages of change)
- Beckhard and Harris's Change Equation (Overcoming Resistance to change)
- Using the Change Curve (Accelerating and improving change)
- Leavitt's Diamond (Integrated approach)
- Burke-Litwin Change Model (Dynamics of change)
- Kotter's 8-step change Model
- Changing people's Habits (Encouraging and sustaining new behaviours)
- Why Change can Fail
- SIPOC Diagrams (Ensuring change process serves everyone)
Review
- AAR After Action Review Process (learning from actions)
- Post-Implementation Reviews
- COnducting Project Health Check
References
- Mindtools (Site/ My Outline) - http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_PPM.htm
- Wikipedia
- Bright Hub PM http://www.brighthubpm.com/
GUIDES to PROJECT MANAGMENT
GUIDES to PROJECT MANAGMENT
What are the different Project Management Approaches?
What are the different Project Management Approaches?
- The traditional approach
- five developmental components (four stages plus control): See Below
- initiation;
- planning and design;
- execution and construction;
- monitoring and controlling systems;
- completion.
- Many industries use variations on these project stages.
- brick and mortar design and construction
- Pre-Planning, Conceptual Design, Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Drawings (or Contract Documents), and Construction Administration.
- In software development,
- waterfall model,[16]i.e., one series of tasks after another in linear sequence.
- Rational Unified Process (RUP) to fit this methodology, Waterfall development works well for small, well defined projects, but often fails in larger projects of undefined and ambiguous nature.
- The Cone of Uncertainty explains some of this as the planning made on the initial phase of the project suffers from a high degree of uncertainty. This becomes especially true as software development is often the realization of a new or novel product.
- In projects where requirements have not been finalized and can change,
- requirements management is used to develop an accurate and complete definition of the behavior of software that can serve as the basis for software development.[17]
- common steps toproblem solving—"defining the problem, weighing options, choosing a path, implementation and evaluation.
- brick and mortar design and construction
- five developmental components (four stages plus control): See Below
- Critical chain project management (CCPM)
- method of planning and managing projects that puts more emphasis on the resources (physical and human) needed in order to execute project tasks.
- The most complex part involves engineering professionals of different fields (Civil, Electrical, Mechanical etc.) working together.
- It is an application of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) to projects.
- The goal is to increase the rate of throughput (or completion rates) of projects in an organization.
- Applying the first three of the five focusing steps of TOC, the system constraint for all projects is identified as are the resources.
- To exploit the constraint, tasks on the critical chain are given priority over all other activities.
- Finally, projects are planned and managed to ensure that the resources are ready when the critical chain tasks must start, subordinating all other resources to the critical chain.
- Resource leveling
- longest sequence of resource-constrained tasks should be identified as the critical chain.
- In multi-project environments, resource leveling should be performed across projects.
- Often enough to identify (or simply select) a single "drum" resource—a resource that acts as a constraint across projects—and stagger projects based on the availability of that single resource.
- Extreme project management
- PERT based models not well suited for the multi-project company environment of today (large-scale, one-time, non-routine projects, and currently all kinds of management are expressed in terms of projects.)
- Using complex models for "projects" (or rather "tasks") spanning a few weeks has been proven to cause unnecessary costs and low maneuverability in several cases
- Instead, project management experts try to identify different "lightweight" models, such as
- Agile Project Management methods including Extreme Programming for software development and Scrum techniques.
- may be used in combination with the process modeling and management principles of human interaction management.
- Event chain methodology
- complements critical path method and critical chain project management methodologies.
- Uncertainty modeling and schedule network analysis technique: focused on identifying and managing events and event chains that affect project schedules.
- Mitigate the negative impact of psychological heuristics and biases, as well as to allow for easy modeling of uncertainties in the project schedules.
- Probabilistic moment of risk: An activity (task) in most real-life processes is not a continuous uniform process. Tasks are affected by external events, which can occur at some point in the middle of the task.
- Event chains: Events can cause other events, which will create event chains. These event chains can significantly affect the course of the project. Quantitative analysis is used to determine a cumulative effect of these event chains on the project schedule.
- Critical events or event chains: The single events or the event chains that have the most potential to affect the projects are the “critical events” or “critical chains of events.” They can be determined by the analysis.
- Project tracking with events: Even if a project is partially completed and data about the project duration, cost, and events occurred is available, it is still possible to refine information about future potential events and helps to forecast future project performance.
- Event chain visualization: Events and event chains can be visualized using event chain diagrams on a Gantt chart.
- PRINCE2 (1996)
- combined the original PROMPT methodology (which evolved into the PRINCE methodology) with IBM's MITP (managing the implementation of the total project) methodology.
- Structured approach
- clearly defined framework.
- procedures: coordinates people and activities in a project, how to design and supervise the project, and what to do if the project has to be adjusted if it does not develop as planned.
- Process Specification: key inputs and outputs and with specific goals and activities to be carried out and allows for automatic control of any deviations from the plan.
- Manageable stages: efficient control of resources. On the basis of close monitoring, the project can be carried out in a controlled and organized way.
- Common Language: The various management roles and responsibilities involved in a project are fully described and are adaptable to suit the complexity of the project and skills of the organization
- Process-based management
- Use of Maturity models such as the
- CMMI (capability maturity model integration; see this example of a predecessor)
- ISO/IEC15504 (SPICE – software process improvement and capability estimation).
- Use of Maturity models such as the
- Agile project management
- based on the principles of human interaction management are founded on a process view of human collaboration. This contrasts sharply with the traditional approach.
- Agile software development or flexible product development approach: series of relatively small tasks conceived and executed as the situation demands in an adaptive manner, rather than as a completely pre-planned process
What are the different Project Management Processes?
What are the different Project Management Processes?
- 1. Initiation
- Determines the nature and scope of the project
- The key project controls needed here are an understanding of the business environment and making sure that all necessary controls are incorporated into the project. Any deficiencies should be reported and a recommendation should be made to fix them.
- The initiating stage should include a plan that encompasses the following areas:
- analyzing the business needs/requirements in measurable goals
- reviewing of the current operations
- financial analysis of the costs and benefits including a budget
- stakeholder analysis, including users, and support personnel for the project
- project charter including costs, tasks, deliverables, and schedule
- 2. Planning and Design
- After the initiation stage, the project is planned to an appropriate level of detail (see example of a flow-chart)
- main purpose: plan time, cost and resources adequately to estimate the work needed and to effectively manage risk during project execution.
- Project Planning details:
- determining how to plan (e.g. by level of detail or rolling wave);
- developing the scope statement;
- selecting the planning team;
- identifying deliverables and creating the work breakdown structure;
- identifying the activities needed to complete those deliverables and networking the activities in their logical sequence;
- estimating the resource requirements for the activities;
- estimating time and cost for activities;
- developing the schedule;
- developing the budget;
- risk planning;
- gaining formal approval to begin work.
- Additional processes
- planning for communications and for scope management, identifying roles and responsibilities, determining what to purchase for the project and holding a kick-off meeting are also generally advisable.
- For new product development projects, conceptual design of the operation of the final product may be performed concurrent with the project planning activities, and may help to inform the planning team when identifying deliverables and planning activities.
- 3. Production or Execution
- consists of the processes used to complete the work defined in the project plan to accomplish the project's requirements.
- coordinating people and resources
- integrating and performing the activities of the project in accordance with the project management plan.
- The deliverables are produced as outputs from the processes performed as defined in the project management plan and other frameworks that might be applicable to the type of project at hand.
- consists of the processes used to complete the work defined in the project plan to accomplish the project's requirements.
- 4. Monitoring and Controlling
- consists of processes performed to observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a timely manner and corrective action can be taken, when necessary, to control the execution of the project.
- The key benefit is that project performance is observed and measured regularly to identify variances from the project management plan.
- Monitoring and controlling includes:[23]
- Measuring the ongoing project activities ('where we are');
- Monitoring the project variables (cost, effort, scope, etc.) against the project management plan and the project performance baseline (where we should be);
- Identify corrective actions to address issues and risks properly (How can we get on track again);
- Influencing the factors that could circumvent integrated change control so only approved changes are implemented
- In multi-phase projects, the monitoring and control process also provides feedback between project phases, in order to implement corrective or preventive actions to bring the project into compliance with the project management plan.
- Project maintenance is an ongoing process, and it includes
- Continuing support of end-users
- Correction of errors
- Updates of the software over time
- Auditors should pay attention to how effectively and quickly user problems are resolved.
- Change Management and Work Scope Change:
- Changes can be the result of necessary design modifications, differing site conditions, material availability, contractor-requested changes, value engineering and impacts from third parties
- Change needs to be documented to show what was actually constructed.
- the owner usually requires a final record to show all changes or, more specifically, any change that modifies the tangible portions of the finished work.
- The record is made on the contract documents – usually, but not necessarily limited to, the design drawings. The end product of this effort is what the industry terms as-built drawings, or more simply, “as built.” The requirement for providing them is a norm in construction contracts.
- When changes are introduced to the project, the viability of the project has to be re-assessed. It is important not to lose sight of the initial goals and targets of the projects. When the changes accumulate, the forecasted result may not justify the original proposed investment in the project.
- 5. Closing
- formal acceptance of the project and the ending thereof.
- Administrative activities include the archiving of the files and documenting lessons learned.
- This phase consists of:
- Project close: Finalize all activities across all of the process groups to formally close the project or a project phase
- Contract closure: Complete and settle each contract (including the resolution of any open items) and close each contract applicable to the project or project phase
What are some Project controlling and project control systems?
What are some Project controlling and project control systems?
- Project Controlling
- Established as an independent function in project management.
- implements verification and controlling function during the processing of a project in order to reinforce the defined performance and formal goals.[24]
- Keeps it on-track, on-time and within budget.[23]
- begins early in the project with planning and ends late in the project with post-implementation review, having a thorough involvement of each step in the process.
- Each project should be assessed for the appropriate level of control needed: too much control is too time consuming, too little control is very risky. If project control is not implemented correctly, the cost to the business should be clarified in terms of errors, fixes, and additional audit fees.
- The tasks of project controlling
- the creation of infrastructure: supply of the right information and its update
- the establishment of a way to communicate disparities of project parameters
- the development of project information technology based on an intranet or the determination of a project key performance index system (KPI)
- divergence analyses and generation of proposals for potential project regulations[25]
- the establishment of methods to accomplish an appropriate the project structure, project workflow organization, project control and governance
- creation of transparency among the project parameters[26]
- The methods of project controlling:
- investment analysis
- cost–benefit analyses
- value benefit Analysis
- expert surveys
- simulation calculations
- risk-profile analyses
- surcharge calculations
- milestone trend analysis
- cost trend analysis
- target/actual-comparison[27]
- Control systems
- needed for cost, risk, quality, communication, time, change, procurement, and human resources.
- auditors should consider
- how important the projects are to the financial statements
- how reliant the stakeholders are on controls
- how many controls exist, review the development process and procedures for how they are implemented.
- Assess the process of development and the quality of the final product
- To catch problems earlier on so that they can be fixed more easily.
- Auditor serve as a controls consultant as part of the development team or as an independent auditor as part of an audit.
- Formal systems development processes.
- Assure that systems are developed successfully. A formal process is more effective in creating strong controls, and auditors should review this process to confirm that it is well designed and is followed in practice.
- A good formal systems development plan outlines:
Other Areas
- Project managers
- Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, engineering, architecture, computing, and telecommunications.
- Person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which is cost, time, and scope.
- Often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to the various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality and above all, client satisfaction, can be realized.
- Project Management Triangle
- Constraints have been listed as "scope," "time," and "cost".[1]. One side of the triangle cannot be changed without affecting the others. A further refinement of the constraints separates product "quality" or "performance" from scope, and turns quality into a fourth constraint.
- The time constraint refers to the amount of time available to complete a project.
- The cost constraint refers to the budgeted amount available for the project.
- The scope constraint refers to what must be done to produce the project's end result.
- These three constraints are often competing constraints: increased scope typically means increased time and increased cost, a tight time constraint could mean increased costs and reduced scope, and a tight budget could mean increased time and reduced scope.
- The discipline of project management is about providing the tools and techniques that enable the project team (not just the project manager) to organize their work to meet these constraints.
- Constraints have been listed as "scope," "time," and "cost".[1]. One side of the triangle cannot be changed without affecting the others. A further refinement of the constraints separates product "quality" or "performance" from scope, and turns quality into a fourth constraint.
- Work breakdown structure (WBS)
- tree structure that shows a subdivision of effort required to achieve an objective—for example a program, project, and contract.
- May be hardware-, product-, service-, or process-oriented (see an example in a NASA reporting structure (2001).[28]
- A WBS can be developed by starting with the end objective and successively subdividing it into manageable components in terms of size, duration, and responsibility (e.g., systems, subsystems, components, tasks, subtasks, and work packages), which include all steps necessary to achieve the objective.[17]
- WBS provides a common framework for the natural development of the overall planning and control of a contract and is the basis for dividing work into definable increments from which the statement of work can be developed and technical, schedule, cost, and labor hour reporting can be established.[28]
- Project management framework
- The Program (Investment) life cycle integrates the project management and system development life cycles with the activities directly associated with system deployment and operation.
- By design, system operation management and related activities occur after the project is complete and are not documented within this guide[19]
- an example of an IT project management framework.
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
- International standards
- Capability Maturity Model from the Software Engineering Institute.
- GAPPS, Global Alliance for Project Performance Standards – an open source standard describing COMPETENCIES for project and program managers.
- A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
- HERMES method, Swiss general project management method, selected for use in Luxembourg and international organizations.
- The ISO standards ISO 9000, a family of standards for quality management systems, and the ISO 10006:2003, for Quality management systems and guidelines for quality management in projects.
- PRINCE2, PRojects IN Controlled Environments.
- PMBOK Association for Project Management Body of Knowledge[29]
- Team Software Process (TSP) from the Software Engineering Institute.
- Total Cost Management Framework, AACE International's Methodology for Integrated Portfolio, Program and Project Management.
- V-Model, an original systems development method.
- The Logical framework approach, which is popular in international development organizations.
- IAPPM, The International Association of Project & Program Management, guide to project auditing and rescuing troubled projects.
- Project portfolio management
- An increasing number of organizations are using, what is referred to as, project portfolio management (PPM) as a means of selecting the right projects and then using project management techniques[30] as the means for delivering the outcomes in the form of benefits to the performing private or not-for-profit organization
Related PM Concepts
Related PM Concepts
Time Management Method
Time Management Method
Getting Things Done
Themes
- 5 Stages of a GTD Workflow
- Collect
- Process
- Organise
- Plan
- Do
- Implementation
- Perspective
- Summary
Reference
Kanban Boards
Kanban Boards
Google Sites
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