Project Management Basics Ten Secrets of Completing Projects Successfully

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Project Management BasicsTen Secrets of
Completing Projects Successfully

• By Project Masters Inc.

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Project Management BasicsTen Secrets of
Completing Projects Successfully
Presented byApril Wennerberg, PMP, MBA Project
Masters Inc. awennerberg_at_projmasters.com410.772.6
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Ten Secrets of Completing Projects Successfully

• Continuous and Effective Communication
• Change Control
• Risk Planning
• Critical Path Method (CPM)
• Team Buy-in

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Ten Secrets of Completing Projects Successfully
Continued

• Customer Relationships
• Triple Constraints
• Team Selection
• Quality
• Ethics

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Continuous Effective Communication

• 80 of projects fail due to problems with
  communication

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Continuous Effective Communication

• LACK OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS THE NUMBER
  ONE REASON PROJECTS FAIL.

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Continuous Effective Communication

• Because of these two facts, it is critical that
  before the project kick-off meeting, a clear
  Project Communication Plan is in place.

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Continuous Effective Communication (Cont.)

• To ensure that information pertaining to the
  status of project activities is captured,
  assessed, and reported, the Project Team must
  have planned for and implemented an adequate
  Project Communication Plan.

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Change Control System

• The most important function of the Change Control
  System is to help the Project Manager and Project
  Team control changes to the project plan. (i.
  e. To maintain control over project scope)

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Change Control System

• Configuration (Baseline) Control
• Design Control
• Document Control
• Acquisition Control
• Specification Control

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Change is Inevitable

• Change is going to occur. For the Project
  Manager, management of change is a way of life.

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Project Plan Problem Change Request Form
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Planning vs. Executing

• Many organizations find that though they do a
  good job of writing Project Plans, they are
  unable to execute their plans. For the most part,
  this failure is a result of not putting in place
  the necessary systems and structure to properly
  monitor and control activity in the
  organizational context.

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Functions of a Change Control System

• Identify changes from the original scope
• Forecast the cost of changes and their effects on
  performance and schedule
• Analyze proposed changes
• Make decisions regarding how to handle
  recommended changes
• Implement changes
• Record actual information pertaining to changes
  made to the project
• Solve disputes

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Changes to the Project Affect

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Project estimates
• Project staffing plan
• Project budget

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Change Control Documentation is Important For

• Project Control
• Evaluation
• Debugging
• Coordination of project effort
• System maintenance

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Flow of Change Control
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Scope Management Cycle
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Risk Management System

• Project Risk may be defined as the chance of
  certain occurrences adversely affecting
  attainment of project objectives. Risk
  represents the degree of exposure to negative
  events and their probable consequences.

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Project Risk Factors

• The Risk Event, i.e. precisely what might happen
  that would be detrimental to the project
• The Risk Probability, i.e. how likely it is that
  the Risk Event will occur
• The Amount At Stake, i.e. the extent of loss that
  could result should the Risk Event actually occur

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Risk Management

• is the art and science of identifying,
  analyzing and responding to risk factors
  throughout the life of the project and in the
  best interests of the projects objectives.

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Monitoring and Controlling Project Risk

• Determining what factors to monitor
• Capturing information relative to these factors
• Assessing the information pertaining to the
  monitored factors to determine levels of variance
• Taking corrective actions in order to control the
  effects of Risk Events when they occur

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Planning for Risk Management

• Risk Management like any other aspect of
  Project Management should be planned for

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Important Risk Management Documents

• Risk Assessment Document
• Risk Plan

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Critical Path Method (CPM)

• CPM allows the Project Manager to answer the
  question
• What happens if we use more resources to shorten
  the project completion time?

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CPM

• The Critical Path is the path through the
  Project Network that determines the shortest time
  within which the project can be completed

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CPM Example
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Advantages of Using CPM

• Critical activities are known at all times
• A valuable tool in calculating the most
  economical way to crash a program
• Identifies those activities having float (slack)
  in the schedule
• Calculates project completion time

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Advantages of Using CPM

• Serves as a warning signal should critical
  activities take longer than expected or problems
  arise
• Provides important decision making information if
  it becomes necessary to shorten the project,
  reduce funds, or reallocate resources

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Advantages of Using CPM

• Communicates to team members the importance of
  various activities, as well as what impact
  decisions during the project can have on the
  outcome.

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Team Buy-in

• Give them responsibility and trust
• Listen to their ideas
• Give praise when deserved
• Recognize their ideas
• Let them know they are important to the
  organization
• Flexible control of work environment

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Team Buy-in

• Give them clear direction with measurable goals
• Give them the skills they require through
  training and information
• Give support through coaching, feedback, and
  encouragement

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Team Buy-in

• Make sure resources are readily available for the
  project
• Provide them upward and downward communication

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Team Buy-in

• Produce emotional buy-in from the team by
  allowing them to participate in project decisions
• Reward team for a job done well
• Give team credit for project success
• Let people know their job is an important part of
  the team

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Customer Relationships

• Serve our clients with integrity, competence, and
  objectivity
• Keep client information and records of client
  engagements confidential and use proprietary
  client information only with the clients
  permission

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Customer Relationships

• Do not take advantage of confidential client
  information for ourselves or our firms
• Do not allow conflicts of interest which provide
  a competitive advantage to one client through our
  use of confidential information from another
  client, who is a direct competitor, without that
  competitor's permission.

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Triple Constraint

• The 3 sides of a triangle move together to
  maintain the integrity of the form. So must
  scope, cost, and schedule move together to
  maintain the integrity of the project.

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Team Selection

• Need to have input on team selection to make sure
  the correct person is obtained for the job
• Need to ensure your individual team members are
  matched up correctly with the project work
• Need to have the right to remove a person from
  the team if they are causing harm to finishing
  the project successfully

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Quality

• Our goal is to improve project performance
  through the utilization of Quality Management
  Principles

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Secret to Quality

• Quality is determined by the customer
• Quality goes beyond merely fulfilling the
  explicitly stated specifications
• Quality is not an absolute characteristic
• Quality is different from grade

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Ethics

• Integrity, competence, and objectivity
• Keep our stakeholders informed
• Assign team members to the project in accord with
  their experience, knowledge, and expertise
• Only accept projects for which we are qualified
  by our experience and competence.

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Review of the Ten Secrets of Completing a Project
Successfully

• Need to communicate, communicate, communicate
• Need to manage change because all projects have
  change
• Remember Murphy's Law Anything that can go
  wrong, will. Be prepared with your Risk Plan

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Review of the Ten Secrets of Completing a Project
Successfully

• Knowing your critical path is the key to keeping
  every activity on track
• Having team buy-in allows you to perform tasks
  that people on the outside would think were
  impossible

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Review of the Ten Secrets of Completing a Project
Successfully

• Having an excellent customer relationship gives
  you an edge, because they are part of your team
• Understanding that the triple constraint triangle
  moves to maintain project integrity and will give
  you the edge you need to keep your project on
  track
• Having the right team members can make or break
  your project

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Review of the Ten Secrets of Completing a Project
Successfully

• For years to come, people will remember the
  quality of the product or service
• If you and your team are not ethical, it will
  come back to bite you in the end

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Project Masters Inc.PresidentApril Wennerberg
Thank You
awennerberg_at_projmasters.com 410.772.6316