Develop a project specification
Development: defining the product, service or process; research; methods of evaluating
feasibility of projects; initial critical analysis of the outline specification; selection of project
option; initiating a project logbook/diary; estimating costs and resource implications;
identifying goals and limitations; value of project; rationale for selection; agree roles and
allocate responsibilities; developing a business case, case justification; primary and
secondary sources, official sources; tacit knowledge; political dimensions, environmental
scanning, market research, market segmentation
Specification: developing a list of requirements relevant to project specifications
eg costs, timescales, scale of operation, standards, legislation, ethics, sustainability, quality,
fitness for purpose, business data, resource implications; project lifecycle; added value of
product, service or process; market and customer expectations; profit margins and
vulnerability; market analysis; benchmarking; stakeholder analysis; scoping process;
informal contacts and networking; relationship to corporate strategy and planning;
sustainability; market intelligence systems (MIS)
Project management: principles; role of the project manager eg management of change,
understanding of project management system elements and their integration, management
of multiple projects; project environment and the impact of external influences on projects;
identification of the major project phases (initiate, plan, execute, monitor/control,
evaluate/close) and why they are required, understanding of the work in each phase; the
nature of work in the lifecycles of projects in various industries
Success/failure criteria: need to meet operational, time and cost criteria, measure success
eg develop the project scope; product breakdown structure (PBS); work breakdown structure
(WBS); project execution strategy and the role of the project team; consideration of
investment appraisal eg use of discount cash flow (DCF) and net present value (NPV);
benefit analysis and viability of projects; determine success/failure criteria; preparation of
project definition report, acceptance tests; requirements for termination eg audit trails, punch
lists, close-out reports and post-project appraisals, comparison of project outcome with
business objectives
Project management systems: procedures and processes; knowledge of project
information support (IS) systems; how to integrate human and material resources for
success
Project Management
An official definition of project management, courtesy of the Project Management Institute, defines the
term as: "the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet project
requirements.”
A more tangible (but less interesting) description is that project management is everything you need
to make a project happen on time and within budget to deliver the needed scope and quality.
Figure 1.1: The balance quadrant
These four aspects (time, budget, scope, and quality) make up what’s known as the balance
quadrant, which is pictured in Figure 1.1 "The balance quadrant". The balance quadrant demonstrates
the interrelationship between the four aspects and how a change to one aspect will unbalance the
quadrant. For instance, an increase in the project’s scope will have an impact on the time, the cost,
and the quality of the project. In practice, any project decision you or your clients make will have an
impact on these four aspects—will it make the project more expensive, take longer, be of lower or
higher quality, or affect its scope?
Project Life Cycle
The generic project life cycle is fairly simple—first you start the project (called Initiating), then you go
on to actually do the project (through the Planning, Executing, and Controlling phases, which form a
loop), and finally you finish with everyone happy, a strategy for the future in place, and a check in your
hand (Closing). This process is illustrated in Figure 1.2 "The project life cycle".
Figure 1.2: The project life cycle
In the coming chapters, we’ll look into each phase in more detail. Much of the work required in these
phases will be very familiar to you—after all, you’ve been successfully getting work done already! The
real message of the project life cycle, though, is that the areas that take the most time are not
necessarily the most important.
Most people spend most of the project time working in the Executing and Controlling phases—
actually doing the tasks, building the product, and making sure everything is on track. Of course, this
work is hugely valuable—without it, there wouldn’t be much point starting the project at all—but these
phases aren’t typically where the success or failure of a project is dictated. That happens in the other
three phases—Initiating, Planning, and Closing—which makes them the most important phases of all.
Project and People
Stakeholders
Stakeholders are those people who hold a stake in the project—they’re people who care about the
project’s outcome. “Stakeholders” is really a catch-all term that can be used to describe such
disparate groups as senior management, end users of systems, customer representatives,
administrators, members of the local community, and union representatives. Anyone who feels that
the project might affect them could regard themselves as a stakeholder.
The Project Board
The project board is a small group of people whose main responsibility is to make the really big
project decisions. Much as you, as the project manager, have an incredibly important role to play, and
indeed will make many of the day-to-day decisions, you’ll always be focused on delivering the project.
The project board is there to make the really big strategic decisions—even if that means potentially
killing the project.
Your project’s board should consist of:
 the project sponsor
 a technical advisor
 a business advisor or domain expert (if needed)
The Project Team
The other stakeholders that are very obviously quite invested in the project’s success are the project
team members themselves. These are the folks who are working alongside you to deliver the actual
work and, as such, they’re essential! Depending on your circumstances, the project team members
may herald from different backgrounds and companies, and may have been brought together just for
this specific project, or they might comprise an existing team that’s been charged with focusing its
efforts on this new challenge.
Project Organisation Chart
Essential Steps for a Successful Initiation
Follow this advice, and you’ll drastically increase your chances of running a successful project that
makes a real difference!
1. Pick projects that are important to the organization and to its future.
2. Make sure that you have appropriate resources for your project—whether those include
people, equipment, or budget.
3. Include the people who are affected by, and interested in, your project in the project itself—
their inputs and opinions matter!
4. Set up a project board with the necessary members right at the beginning of the project, not
just when the difficult decisions need to be made.
5. Create a Project Initiation Document and review it with the project team, board members, and
key stakeholders.
6. Get your project started with a kickoff meeting, both to ensure the alignment of stakeholder
expectations, and get everyone enthusiastic about the project!
7. Create a communications plan that outlines who needs to be kept informed about your
project’s progress, and how you’re going to communicate with those people.
Business Case
The Business Case is a vital project management tool. It should be considered before any project is
commissioned, ideally at a higher level such as the strategy group, and certainly as part of any
feasibility study.
The contents of a Business Case should include the reasons for the project, the prioritized business
benefits and savings, costs of the proposed solution, the options considered plus the reasons for
selection of the chosen option and a cost/benefit analysis.
if the Business Case fails at any time during the project, the project should be stopped.
The Business Case must take into account the whole impact of the final product on the business, not
just the creation of the final product, and be maintained throughout the project
A high-level Business Case should be included in the Project Mandate. If it is not, then one should be
added as part of developing the Project Brief.
The Business Case contains the following components.
Reasons
This is a narrative description of the justification for undertaking the project.
Options
This is a summary of the optional solutions considered for the project plus the reasons for selecting
the chosen option. The options should always include a ‘do nothing’ option, i.e. what would happen if
we didn’t undertake the project?
Benefits
A narrative description of what the expected benefits are, plus estimated benefit figures over the life of
the product. Benefits should be defined in terms that are
 measurable at the start of the project
 measurable when the final product is in use
Cost and Timescale
The estimated development and running costs for the project and the expected delivery date.
Investment Appraisal
This is known as the “do nothing” option and is used as the benchmark against which the predicted
costs and benefits are measured.
It is important to remember that the ‘do nothing’ option should be calculated by assessing the
implications of staying with the current mode of operation for the anticipated life of the new
product/service/system.
Readings
Williams, M., 2008, The Principles of Project Management
Bentley, C., 2005, The Essence of PRINCE2: Project Management Method