Project Management
Basics
5 Phases

Initiating
 Planning
 Executing
 Controlling
 Closing
Initiating

Recognizing that a project is worth doing
– It is easier to complete projects if we are
enthusiastic about them and if they match our
personal values

Values Balancing
– A job not worth doing is not worth doing well
– What is the feasibility?
– What is the risk?
Values Identification:
Values tell us why we do what we do-they are the underlying
motivators

What are the qualities that make your life
better?
 What helps you survive, thrive and prosper?
 What would you like to have more of in your
life?
 What would you miss if it was eliminated
from your life?
 What qualities define the person you want to
be?
The Value Wheel

Determine your
current ideal
performance for
each value listed
 Rate your current
actual performance
and place a dot by
the appropriate
number
 Connect the dots
Initiating (cont.)

Defining the overall project goal
– Vision
– Must be clearly defined

Determining what the project should
accomplish
– The importance of creativity in PM
 Mindmapping
Vision

Purpose pulls us in the direction we want to
go

Exercise
– Write a one-sentence vision statement for your
life, based upon the values identified previously
Key Criteria for Setting Goals

Be specific
 Be realistic
 Have a time component
 Be measurable
 Be agreed upon
 Identify responsibility for achieving
Mindmapping
2 Rules:
1.
There are no bad ideas
2. There are no wrong mindmaps
Uses include to do lists, brainstorming, task analysis,
vacation planning, decision making, etc.
Mindmap Steps
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Lighten up—brain dump
Think fast-capture ideas quickly
Judge not-write down everything that comes to
mind
Break Boundaries-don’t write neatly on paper
Center first-don’t use just one side of your brain
Free associate-branch off of other ideas
Keep moving-the bigger the paper the more ideas
Allow organization-later
Mindmap Exercise

How can we make the
education system work
better?
INITIATING(cont.)

Defining general expectations of
stakeholders
 Defining the general project scope
– Productivity pyramid

Selecting the initial members of the project
team
Scope

The size of the
project
 Key is balancing
scope versus
complexity
 Tends to creep
Productivity Pyramid

Values
– The why


Long range goals
– Surface problems
– Trust
– No limitations
– The what

BOEING 777 Example
Intermediate Steps
– The how

Daily tasks
– The now

Video
Selecting the Team

Planning team
– Prepare the project plan
– Supervisory and technical
subject matter experts
– Define resource and
technical requirements

Core team
– Specific functional areas
– Stakeholder analysis
PLANNING

Refining the project scope
– Balancing time, resources, results
 Time Management-Ch. 4
 Day planners/consistency of purpose

Listing tasks and activities that lead to
achieving project goals
– VPIC
 Visualize/Plan/Implement/Close
 “You can’t prioritize a stack”
Planning (cont.)

Sequencing activities in the most efficient manner
possible
– What needs to be done
– When it needs to be done
– Hunks chunks and bites-break it into manageable pieces
– Where the information is stored
– Who is responsible for each phase
– Identify possible hot spots
– Failsafe retrieval
Planning-Same time, same place

Work breakdown structure (WBS)
– Defines the project work in specific tasks

Responsibility matrix
– Defines organization, key individuals and their
responsibilities

Events and Milestones
– Identifies critical points and major occurences on
the project schedule

Gantt charts
– Display the MPS and detailled task schedules
PLANNING (cont.)

Developing a workable schedule and budget
– Backward and forward scheduling

Getting the plan approved by appropriate
stakeholders
 Organizational inertia
– CQ quotient (collaborative/not) p. 224
IMPLEMENTATION
“Clutter sucks creativity and energy from
your brain!”
 Leadership
– Kick off meeting

Meeting with team members
– delegation

Communications
– Trash/information/action item
Delegation
Authority-the person doing the task
must have the authority to accomplish it
B. Responsibility- shared by both parties
C. Commitment- to achieving the end
result in the agreed upon time frame
A.
“Success is the ability
to go from failure to
failure without losing
your enthusiasm.”
Projects are long-term
important but not
short-term urgent.
IMPLEMENTATION(cont.)

Installation/training/repair
 Preventative maintenance systems
 Back up systems/disaster and recovery
 Fire fighting
 Securing necessary resources
– Authority
– Responsibility
– Commitment
Interuptions







Prioritize the interuption
Swap offices
Work in a conference
room
Leave the office
Work at home
Put up a ‘do not disturb’
sign
Work in 20-30 minute
chunks
CONTROLLING

Monitoring deviation from plan
– Critical path
– Reliability-if after repeated samplings, you achieve results
that are close to each other
– Validity- are we really measuring what we think we are?

Project review meetings
 Corrective action
– Crashing



Cost
Risk
Evaluating change requests
Project Review Meeting
 What
has happened
so far?
 What still needs to
happen?
 What problems, if
any, are we having?
CONTROLLING(cont.)

Rescheduling
 Adapting resource levels
 Changing scope
 Readjustment of goals if necessary
CLOSING

Disbanding the team
 Learning post-mortem
 Review of outcomes
 Final report
 Celebrate!!!