Project Management

Scott Foley & Chris Hughes

Careers Service

On Today’s Menu…

• What is Project Management?• Stages in Project Management• Project Management tools• Creating effective meetings• Advice from other students• Choosing project

What is Project Management?

Management of the activities to deliver a result:

• With the expected result

• Within required timescale

• Within budget

• To the agreed quality

Stages in Project Management

1. Definition

2. Implementation

3. Review

4. Refine

Stages in Project Management

1. Definition• Clear objectives/goals• Identify resources (finance & people)• What are the success criteria?• Scoping: what is the project? - why is it being

done?

Stages in Project Management

1. Definition - Defining goals

SMART• Specific: detailed, particular, focused• Measurable: quantifiable• Action-oriented: produce results• Realistic: practical, achievable• Timed: deadline

Stages in Project Management

2. Implementation - Planning• Identify strengths/interests • Breakdown of tasks required• Prioritising• Contingencies• Key milestones

Stages in Project Management

3. Review• Build in monitoring systems• Communication and feedback on progress• Timescales

4. Refine• Changing whenever appropriate (fluidity)• Not a sign of failure!

Project Management Tools

• Action Planning • Sequential and Parallel Activities• Critical Path Scheduling• GANTT Charts

Project Management Tools

Action plan: 1• Brief list / breakdown of tasks that you have

to carry out to achieve an objective. Allows you to work out:

a) The stages of your project

b) Who needs to do what

c) When tasks need to be completed

• TIP: Start your plan from the deadline and work backwards

Project Management Tools

Action plan: 2• Prioritise• Set realistic times for completing tasks• Check availability of resources / people

(including your own group!)• Plan for times when you know you can’t

work on project (e.g. holiday, other course deadline etc)

• Ensure others know too!

Project Management Tools

Sequential and parallel activities Sequential activities:

Need to be completed in a sequence, with each activity being completed before the next can begin.

Parallel activities: Not dependent on completion of any other tasks

Or, may be done at any time before or after a particular stage is reached.

Project Management Tools

Critical Path Scheduling• Focusing on the essential

tasks / activities – identify them on your gantt chart

• Good for monitoring your progress

• Helps you adapt plans if you overrun on time

Project Management Tools

Gantt Charts• Visual representation of tasks involved• You can see what each person is supposed to

be doing, when and how long for• Key milestones are clearly identified• You have a chart against which to plot progress

Project Management Tools

Example: making a cup of tea

Project Management Tools

Project planning example:

Plan to travel round the world Breaks down into smaller tasks You have 10 minutes to rank the tasks in order

and create a Gantt chart

Safety on projects

Whilst conducting work off campus, important to consider safety for:

Yourself Your Group Your Host Organisation

Members of public/people at your event Read your safety info packContact your tutor if you have any

problems

Advice from last semester’s students

• Do as much as you can at the beginning of the project as you’ll definitely run out of time at the end

• Produce minutes as you go along rather than making them up at the end!

• Make sure you know where you are going!

• Don’t waste time being overly polite to each other you need to get on with the project – arguments can help get things moving

Advice from last semesters students

• Don’t rely on email• Arrange a definite meeting time and

place and make sure every one attends

• Get everyone to write down major course work hand-ins, field work etc. before you start so that you can work around this

• Be realistic about what you are going to achieve or your team will feel de-motivated

Things to think about at your first meeting

Who will contact the employer?When (and where) can you all meetWhat strengths/experiences do you

haveWhat can you realistically achieve

Creating Effective Meetings

• Who’s in charge?

• What are we doing today ?

• When does it end ?

• What did we decide last time?

• Who was supposed to have done what ?

The Process