Project Management

This page assume that you have a project ready to be implemented. To get to that stage, first go through the Business Management and Strategy page.

Prioritising Projects

Project Management begins with considering the costs and time-frame for delivering the level of quality you want in a product. The three sides of the Project Management triangle: Cost, Quality, and Timing.

That is a useful concept for large companies running multiple projects, or the sole entrepreneur working on just a handful of projects.

That three-point triangle between cost, quality and timing shows dependencies and constraints.  I.e.

• If you want higher quality, you will probably have a higher cost, and more time to produce.
• If you want a faster turn around of the project, you may have to put up with lower quality, and even possibly higher cost because of extra resource required to meet the deadline. And so it goes.

The juggling act is a major part of the project managers remit.  (Of course this is highly relevant to time management training. To begin, get a complimentary copy of the white paper Time Management Training for Small Business Teams).

The primary function of project management is to ensure that the project is implemented to meet the established budget, schedule, safety, and performance requirements to satisfy its objectives.

Many possible aspects or divisions of Project Management

• Requirements management
• Subcontract management
• Deliverables management
• Risk management
• Scope management
• Performance management

Your career development will depend on your insight and ability with project management and effective time management.

And the key documentation for project management is…

The Project Mandate.

Any project must have boundaries, and must be completable. Avoid project scope creep (when the project expands beyond the original scope that was defined and agreed).

This document is just a method for writing down your ideas. It doesn’t need to include information you don’t know. The project team will fill in those details either in consultation with you or the devs.

If there are sections you’re not sure about, ignore them. I expect gaps in these documents. If you want to include things in point form or add images please do. It does not need to be formal.

The point in having the template is simply to provide a little guidance to you in forming your ideas. The hope is that it may prompt you to think about something which is not obvious from the start.

FYI, the project team takes this document and by filling in any gaps in understanding, creates the Project Brief. This is what the devs use to quote on.

Prepare or Obtain a Project Brief

The Project Manager will convert the Project Mandate into a Project Brief which quotes resource requirements  and deliverables (cost, timing, quality).

Questions used by project managers:

• How much will this project cost?
• When will it be done?
• What is the confidence in these estimates?
• How will I recognize done when it arrives?
• What skills, experiences, tools, and processes will be needed to successfully complete the project on-time, on-budget, on-technical and business specifications?

These questions are core to the principles of project management.

Re-assess priority once the project brief has quoted resource requirements. (Setting priorities involves delivery quotes and potential pay-offs).  If you want to proceed, gain budget approval and turn to resource management.

Create the Project Schedule

The Project Schedule is the tool used to plan, track and execute the individual steps of the project.  Made of two types of entries:

• Milestones
• Tasks

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) takes Milestones and identifies, divides, and subdivides tasks in order to meet the project objectives.

Milestones represent a significat point of development.  Major events.  

All tasks are :

• Specific work activities that start with an action word
• Assigned to a specici responsbiel person or area
• Allowed a specific amoutn of time to complete
• Focussed on delivering Milestones
• Interrealted to eachother

Resource Management

Projects are comprised of time management (delivery), resource management (cost), and quality management (quality).  Projects are constrainted by resource availability.

Be clear on who is Accountable/Assigned Resource?  When are the delivery dates (milestones and completion)?

Request each Team member to write a detailed work schedule for their function that shows how they will support the larger Project Schedule.

Performance Management

Through Performance Management  you elevate the output of the available reources.

You might not have a rigidly fixed budget, you might simply be trying to use what you have to make more. You might not have a specific scheduled deadline for project delivery, but you might have plans and goals that you want to reach faster and easier.

Getting Things Done Principles are basic practical personal steps for Project Management:

1. Collect
2. Process
3. Organize
4. Review
5. Do

Pick up a FREE copy of my private notes on business management, project management, time management at work, and much more.

By NathanShaw, for Organized Living World.