Project Management for EveryoneRichard Schreiber, PMP, CSM

12/8/2015

What is Project Management? A framework on how to get things done effectively A way to plan more complex things you want to get done that

take an extended period of time, that have a lot of steps and dependencies so that you can organize it to get it done in a (more) predictable time frame (schedule) DELIVERY

A way to demonstrate progress in what we do and advise our bosses or management on what hurdles we might be coming up against

Being proactive in our communications2

Why Project Management? Complex projects like planning and building a skyscraper would

never happen without it; left to happenstance would be fatal Software products would never be delivered with minimal defects

and in time to be first to market without it--time to market is everything in software

Continuous Improvement. Unless we build frameworks around what we do in our projects, so that we can duplicate things to gain efficiencies or learn from our missteps/mistakes, we’ll never get better at what we do, which translates into bigger profits, more work load and more business.

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We’re already using Project Management in our lives and we may not be aware of it

Planning a vacation/trip requires project management; a sequence of steps that have to be planned, lodging, air fare, transportation, itineraries and schedules, advance tickets to venues, etc., all require planning and execution

Planning a wedding… also requires a long sequence of events, sourcing of vendors, venues, getting measured for the dress, acquiring an event location, band, flowers, food, cake, etc. all that must take place in a sequence

Planning an event...the same. 4

Project Management is all around us

Who’s ever been to an event and noticed something missing or that didn’t happen quite right?

Chances are, when things don’t go right, project management wasn’t properly used or followed

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What are the things we want to avoid?

Things that go wrong! Delays ! Cost overruns ! Headaches! Oops! I didn’t think of that (or plan for that!)

While Project Management doesn’t eliminate this--there’s no guarantees! It can mitigate them or reduce their impact because we can anticipate them better.

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What are the components of Good (Traditional) Project Management ?

Project Charter: What’s the “Mission” of the project as determined by the person writing the checks as well as anyone else with key input that determines what the project is about? What is the Business rationale, objectives?

Stakeholder Management: Who are ALL the key people on my project?

The Decision-makers, people whose help or contribution/guidance I need; or money/budget I need; who are my key resources ?

Who signs the checks? How do they prefer to be contacted and how often?

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What are the component of Good Project Management ? (con’t)

Project Scope: Make a list of all the tasks or steps that must happen for a given project you’re working on, the “Scope”

o Then organize the task list, put them in the priority or sequential order then (later) group the tasks and assign them to the resources that must carry them out.

Time Management: Figure out how long you think it will take to do all your tasks; how many hours or days and create a timeline to graphically map it out so you can truly see how long it will take. Gantt Chart8

Project Management Timeline/Project Plan

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What are the components of Good Project Management ? (con’t)

Project Cost Management: What’s it going to cost? How do I estimate? What is my budget ? This has to be established before you begin the project

Project Quality Management: How do I constantly assess that the project is meeting the quality standards (what are the quality standards I need to establish?) This is often Quality Control checks at frequent intervals

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What are the components of Good Project Management ? (con’t)

Resource Management:

o What resources do I need for this project for every role?

o Who’s going to be working on the project? What are their roles? strengths? weaknesses?

o Internal/External resources--remote or co-located?

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What are the components of Good Project Management ? (continued)

Project Communications: How do I organize my communication to all the members on my project team to make sure they have all the answers they need to do their respective jobs--so they’re not slowed down by roadblocks (and to make sure the Project Manager/leader is in the loop to be able to help solve them)

How will I communicate the project’s progress to my bosses or upper management? What kind of charts (Gantt), spreadsheets, etc., do I need to use to create a progress report?

How do I get their feedback when I need to resolve issues or problems?

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Project Management Status Reporting (sample)

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What are the components of Good Project Management ? (continued)

Risk Assessment: Pro-actively think about risk; where can things go wrong and how can I anticipate it and plan for it, whether it's a contingency or backup plan. Plan for risks or risk to fail.

Project Procurement Management: When I need to source materials or finishes, furnishings, anything for the project. What’s my process; RFP, bid, etc. ? How does this tie into my budget (line item)

Project Closing And, Finally, how do I make sure everything is done and finished on the project so I can declare it’s over and has been a success?

Lessons Learned

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There are two major Project Management Methodologies, Waterfall

(traditional) and Agile

Waterfall is exactly what it sounds like, a series of sequential steps that are carried out in precisely the order they’re in and at the end of all the steps, you have a finished product.

Often you do not show the work in progress; only when it’s largely finished, after all/most of the steps are completed

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Waterfall Project Management

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Waterfall Project Management (con’t) An example of waterfall project management work

is the building of an office tower. It must be executed in a certain sequence otherwise it won’t be done right; you can’t do the drywall work before the electrical guys do their work; you can’t put the carpet in until the floors are done, etc.

Waterfall typically requires tons of documentation and up front planning before even the first step can be executed, often months and months of planning by the developer, architect and general contractor and project team.

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Waterfall Project Management (con’t) Requires very precise resource planning and time estimates, the

“triple constraints” of scope, cost and time. The point is, when one of these is impacted, it affects the other two, which affects the overall project.

A Project manager’s job is to manage the triple constraints effectively.

Waterfall doesn’t like changes; “Change Orders” are a challenge and cause cost overruns, delays because they are disruptive to the schedule and budget because they are not easily integrated within the plan

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The Other major Project Management Methodology is Agile

Agile Project Management is based on the Lean principle; eliminate all waste and excess documentation and prepare to engage in the project with only the minimum amount of planning, documentation (enough to get you started) so that you can begin the project in weeks instead of months.

Agile is commonly used to develop software, beginning with a beta or demo site and then building out the actual site in “modules” or pieces.

The Agile Process is “iterative” (graphic) meaning it repeats the same process over and over to make it better

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Agile Project Management (con’t)

In Agile, project teams are self-managed; they work problems out among themselves or with the aid of a Scrum Master. Collaborative

Agile stresses people working together in constant communications vs. silos

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Agile Project Management (con’t)

Agile doesn’t mean that you don’t do consider and discuss all the steps in Waterfall, e.g., knowing your charter, stakeholders, resources, budget, risks, etc., you just don’t spend the time to create elaborate processes or documentation on this.

You create a Product Backlog of everything that goes into the product you’re going to create. 22

Agile Project Management (con’t) Next, you prioritize the items on the Product Backlog. Backlog items are then estimated in terms of “story

points” (a basic measurement) as to how long each will take to do

You’ll work on the items from that Backlog that have the biggest impact or ROI FIRST.

80/20 rule. Generally 20% of the product scope will satisfy 80% of the necessary elements.23

Agile Project Management (con’t) Agile is incremental. The agile project is broken down into

smaller “chunks” of completed work called “sprints” that you can demo to your client for instant feedback in regular intervals, like every two weeks after you do a “release”.

Agile is “time boxed” meaning, you identify exactly what tasks can get done, and how many story points based on your resources and their history or “velocity”, in each sprint.

Time Box means, if the sprint is 2 weeks long, that’s it. No extensions and everything must get done in the 2 week time frame that is assigned to that sprint. 24

Agile Project Management (con’t) Agile embraces change and you can adapt

much quicker because you’re working on the project in phases or sprints. A change can be much easily absorbed in the process when you’re building things in pieces.

If a change has to be made, in Agile, you can “horse trade” to remove something else from the project so the project remains on schedule.

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Agile Project Management (con’t)

In Agile, at the conclusion of each “sprint”, the product is in a finished state including all the prior sprint’s work

o It would be like building the first 7 floors, totally functional self contained and equipped, of a 20 story apartment building. You could conceivably just build the roof on top of the 7th floor and be done with it. 26

Project Management is Changing Many organizations are migrating more towards Agile from Waterfall or

are using both discplines. From formal or traditional project management we learn that you want to

have a plan. It’s good to think up front; it’s good to understand the requirements and have clear objectives; it’s good to identify risks; it’s good to be able to communicate. --Charles Seybold from Liquid Planner, a Project Management software provider

Agile elements give us self organizing teams; more collaboration, less silos; there is no single point that has all the control; more frequent updates and constant communication and more flexibility on the project.

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Review: Project Management: Why me?

Project Management skills are inherently used in all walks of life and in business more and more and you can definitely tell when they’re not used

Project Management in the future will be taught in colleges as a fundamental business skill, in particular with the benefits of collaborative aspects and elements. This is what’s fueling the mobile economy

Project Management is a great general skill set to have for any business that requires to get things done, on budget and on time (which is every business !)

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Resources

http://www.projectmanagement.com/ http://www.corpedgroup.com/courses/scedesc.asp?CID=8525 ;

http://pm4e.com/project_mgmt.php https://library.gwu.edu/sites/default/files/policies/Project%20Man

agement%20Training%20-%20Slides.pdf https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/registration.tmpl--A recent live

webinar of about one hour on the topic29

Thank You & Questions

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