A project manager’s job is never an easy one they have so many areas that they must consider which can be like a manic juggling act at times. In this article, we are going to look at the project manager’s responsibility in terms of scope of the project, but first let’s take a look at what else the project manager is responsible for.
- Time
- Resources
- Money
All of these are very important areas of project management, however scope is also important. Scope is defining exactly what the project will do, how big it will be, what its goals are, and what requirements are needed.
Although most of the other literature available on project management does not spend a lot of time talking about project scope, it is very important. Scope should be the first and last thing that you need to do.
The project scope clearly defines what this project should achieve, and how much it will cost (both in terms of time and money). If the project has changed in any way then the budget should also change to reflect this.
The project scope may be to build a bungalow and your budget may be $150,000, however if the scope changes and you need to build a two story house then the budget must change in order to accommodate this. In other words, the scope and budget should be linked together. Unless the budget is adjusted the project manager doesn’t really have the resources required to complete the project to the new scope.
You might not see why the scope would ever need to change, however it can and does happen on a regular basis. Such changes normally occur slowly over time, small seemingly insignificant scope changes can quite easily pile up over time. Although these are minor changes, which are not, in themselves, very difficult to manage, the accumulation of these changes can make it much more of a problem.
As a project manager you must make sure that any changes in the project scope, no matter how small they are also affect the size of the budget. For example, if you are project managing the building of a home, then the addition of an awning may be very minor, however your client may want to continue adding extra changes until you are left with a completely different project.
Unless you are on top of the project scope and managing it properly then it’s not possible for you to manage the resources, money or time effectively. It is vital that the project scope is respected and updated on a regular basis. If anything changes, then be sure to re-evaluate the budget. Failure to do this could place your project is serious risk.
Once the project scope has been detailed and linked to the budget and timeline for the project, then you can begin planning the resources.
Many people do not think that project scope is very important, however without managing the scope the size and complexity of your project could very quickly get out of hand. The project scope should be used in a way to protect your business from extra work at no cost.
At Picaso Consulting we understand that importance of scope and we support our clients with proven techniques to ensure the scope is managed and controlled.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Importance of Documentation in Projects
Project management is the most crucial component in ensuring that your projects are a success rather than a failure. In order to make sure that everyone knows what the project entails it is essential that you pay close and focussed attention to documenting the project.
The best way to start documenting any process or complicated project is to break the project down into bite sized chunks that are much more manageable. Managing a project as a whole can be overwhelming; but by breaking it down into smaller sub-projects, you will stand a much better chance of being able to monitor the project as a whole and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.
However, before you can even start to look at documentation a project you first need to decide the scope and work team. Only after you have these things clearly specified and in place will you be able to commence putting together an accurate set of documentation relating to these areas.
To highlight this point, let’s take a look at an example. You might be the project manager for a team which is responsible for writing a user manual showing employees how to use a new computer system (with the introduction of the new computer system representing “the project” in this case. The manual will assist employees to use your in-house computer systems. Although this document will never be released to the outside world, the quality of it is still of paramount importance as any mistakes could affect relationships with external customers, for example.
You will have unfettered access to certain resources to complete this task, including:
- A team of technical writers.
- Loads of hand written notes/typed note from various people including the end users of the system.
- Firsthand experience with the computer system and a sound knowledge of its purpose.
Before you can begin any type of project, you need to make sure everyone knows what they are doing and, more importantly, can be held accountable. This, of course, can be only done by organising and documenting the project thoroughly.
So, what do you need to do?
We’ll continue with the computer system example above to illustrate these points.
As previously mentioned, you should start by splitting the project up into easier pieces to manage. You then need to decide what each of the project operatives will be doing and compile the documentation to show this. Once this is complete, you can then move onto identifying the optimum lay-out of the manual. The documentation should show the whole process from start to finish, who will be doing what, and how long it will take.
You can break the user manual up into phases, as you have a team of technical writers, it is sensible to break it into various phases.
For example:
Phase one: Using the computer system to control stock levels
Phase two: Using the computer system to manage deliveries
Phase three: Using the computer system to track ecommerce deliveries
In this situation where a user manual is being created, it is very important that each writer follows a template or an outline so that all of the finished pieces of work look the same and can fit together well.
You could also decide to interview people that use or created the computer system so that you can learn more about it, all of these are additional parts of the project.
Communication is a very important part of project management; although verbal communication cannot be overlooked actually documenting everything down on paper is also very important. Without it there are plenty of opportunities for misunderstanding and confusion. Documentation should help you to decide what needs doing, when it needs doing and how much it will all cost.
The importance of documentation and good documentation can help you with the risk factors of any project and will support greater quality when work is outsourced.
For more on this and other key aspects of Project Management, contact us at Picaso Consulting
The best way to start documenting any process or complicated project is to break the project down into bite sized chunks that are much more manageable. Managing a project as a whole can be overwhelming; but by breaking it down into smaller sub-projects, you will stand a much better chance of being able to monitor the project as a whole and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.
However, before you can even start to look at documentation a project you first need to decide the scope and work team. Only after you have these things clearly specified and in place will you be able to commence putting together an accurate set of documentation relating to these areas.
To highlight this point, let’s take a look at an example. You might be the project manager for a team which is responsible for writing a user manual showing employees how to use a new computer system (with the introduction of the new computer system representing “the project” in this case. The manual will assist employees to use your in-house computer systems. Although this document will never be released to the outside world, the quality of it is still of paramount importance as any mistakes could affect relationships with external customers, for example.
You will have unfettered access to certain resources to complete this task, including:
- A team of technical writers.
- Loads of hand written notes/typed note from various people including the end users of the system.
- Firsthand experience with the computer system and a sound knowledge of its purpose.
Before you can begin any type of project, you need to make sure everyone knows what they are doing and, more importantly, can be held accountable. This, of course, can be only done by organising and documenting the project thoroughly.
So, what do you need to do?
We’ll continue with the computer system example above to illustrate these points.
As previously mentioned, you should start by splitting the project up into easier pieces to manage. You then need to decide what each of the project operatives will be doing and compile the documentation to show this. Once this is complete, you can then move onto identifying the optimum lay-out of the manual. The documentation should show the whole process from start to finish, who will be doing what, and how long it will take.
You can break the user manual up into phases, as you have a team of technical writers, it is sensible to break it into various phases.
For example:
Phase one: Using the computer system to control stock levels
Phase two: Using the computer system to manage deliveries
Phase three: Using the computer system to track ecommerce deliveries
In this situation where a user manual is being created, it is very important that each writer follows a template or an outline so that all of the finished pieces of work look the same and can fit together well.
You could also decide to interview people that use or created the computer system so that you can learn more about it, all of these are additional parts of the project.
Communication is a very important part of project management; although verbal communication cannot be overlooked actually documenting everything down on paper is also very important. Without it there are plenty of opportunities for misunderstanding and confusion. Documentation should help you to decide what needs doing, when it needs doing and how much it will all cost.
The importance of documentation and good documentation can help you with the risk factors of any project and will support greater quality when work is outsourced.
For more on this and other key aspects of Project Management, contact us at Picaso Consulting
Friday, December 26, 2008
MANAGING OUTSOURCED PROJECTS
As a small or medium sized business owner wanting to expand your business you have a dilemma, do you get the extra work and then employ extra people to handle the work, or do you employ the people first? Either way will put your business under pressure, you either don’t have enough people to do the work, or you have too many people and, potentially, no work for them to do.
Avoid Risk
It’s painfully obvious that growth is important to all businesses in order for them to be deemed successful. However employing other people can be very difficult, complex and expensive option. You may like to consider using outsourcing as a method of growing your business.
Outsourcing basically means that you choose certain activities that your business currently handles and then delegates these to external firms, usually for a predetermined fee.
However, there are some tips to bear in mind when you are choosing a company or individual to whom you are considering giving your business:
First, you should be sure that your outsourcing partner will not try to engage directly with your clients. As this company will be often dealing directly with your hard-won customers, you have to trust them. A contract should be drawn up to ensure that this company does not attempt this.
You also need to make sure that the person you are hiring has the appropriate skill set which is required to complete the work to the necessary standard and in good time. Your customers won’t want to hear excuses about how your failure was actually someone else’s fault and are just likely to walk away and not use your company again.
Once you have chosen your outsource firm you should then make sure you ser up a robust Service Level Agreement with them (SLA). The Service Level Agreement should explain what you expect from the service that they provide, including the time frames when completing the project.
When you are hiring an outsourcing company it is also acutely important that you have a thorough process that is designed to monitor the outsourcing of the product. You need to know any and all of the details about your chosen outsourcing company, the time line that you need them to work to, and any special requirements or information that pertains to the project that you will need to pass on to ensure that the eventual product is to your, and subsequently, your client’s, entire satisfaction.
You also need to add other things to this list, but each project will be unique and you should consider your information flow very carefully before engaging an outsourcing company.
Offshore Outsourcing
One popular type of outsourcing is to outsource products abroad to developing countries like China, India and the Philippines. These types of outsourcing projects are designed to reduce direct costs and overheads and, in turn, increase profits. For example, in the UK, US and Australia, many customer consumer support lines have been moved to India to reduce these aforementioned overheads, and much manufacturing of staple, and indeed specialist, goods have been moved to China.
In Conclusion
Outsourcing projects to other firms could be a great way to reduce your businesses overheads while still getting the work done. It’s also a very good way of growing your business without exposing your business to unnecessary financial risk. Owners of small businesses often have to multitask and juggle a number of projects which are all on the go at the same time but, by outsourcing, it is possible to reduce the workload without substantially increasing overheads.
Picaso Consulting can support you in this process either by managing your offshore partner or in helping you select that partner.
Avoid Risk
It’s painfully obvious that growth is important to all businesses in order for them to be deemed successful. However employing other people can be very difficult, complex and expensive option. You may like to consider using outsourcing as a method of growing your business.
Outsourcing basically means that you choose certain activities that your business currently handles and then delegates these to external firms, usually for a predetermined fee.
However, there are some tips to bear in mind when you are choosing a company or individual to whom you are considering giving your business:
First, you should be sure that your outsourcing partner will not try to engage directly with your clients. As this company will be often dealing directly with your hard-won customers, you have to trust them. A contract should be drawn up to ensure that this company does not attempt this.
You also need to make sure that the person you are hiring has the appropriate skill set which is required to complete the work to the necessary standard and in good time. Your customers won’t want to hear excuses about how your failure was actually someone else’s fault and are just likely to walk away and not use your company again.
Once you have chosen your outsource firm you should then make sure you ser up a robust Service Level Agreement with them (SLA). The Service Level Agreement should explain what you expect from the service that they provide, including the time frames when completing the project.
When you are hiring an outsourcing company it is also acutely important that you have a thorough process that is designed to monitor the outsourcing of the product. You need to know any and all of the details about your chosen outsourcing company, the time line that you need them to work to, and any special requirements or information that pertains to the project that you will need to pass on to ensure that the eventual product is to your, and subsequently, your client’s, entire satisfaction.
You also need to add other things to this list, but each project will be unique and you should consider your information flow very carefully before engaging an outsourcing company.
Offshore Outsourcing
One popular type of outsourcing is to outsource products abroad to developing countries like China, India and the Philippines. These types of outsourcing projects are designed to reduce direct costs and overheads and, in turn, increase profits. For example, in the UK, US and Australia, many customer consumer support lines have been moved to India to reduce these aforementioned overheads, and much manufacturing of staple, and indeed specialist, goods have been moved to China.
In Conclusion
Outsourcing projects to other firms could be a great way to reduce your businesses overheads while still getting the work done. It’s also a very good way of growing your business without exposing your business to unnecessary financial risk. Owners of small businesses often have to multitask and juggle a number of projects which are all on the go at the same time but, by outsourcing, it is possible to reduce the workload without substantially increasing overheads.
Picaso Consulting can support you in this process either by managing your offshore partner or in helping you select that partner.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Managing Risk in a Project
Even if you plan your project down to the last letter, there are still a number of bumps and holes along the road, each of which could be enough to derail your project and make it become a failure. There are a number of different types of risk that your project may be susceptible to, we’ll take a look at these now.
Inherent Risk
This is also known as Business risk, and is the type of risk that could affect the business as a whole. Depending on your type and structure of organisation this risk will be different. For example a highly fragmented business has a greater risk of poor communication being a damaging factor in a project’s potential for success.
Specific Risk
This is also known as Project risk, and is the risk associated specifically with your project. Again, this type of risk in unavoidable and every project will be subject to an element of Specific Risk. Nevertheless, many of these risks can be influenced and mitigated against by the prudent actions of the project manager, such as the selection of collective skills of the employees chosen to work on the project.
Inherent Risk
This is also known as Business risk, and is the type of risk that could affect the business as a whole. Depending on your type and structure of organisation this risk will be different. For example a highly fragmented business has a greater risk of poor communication being a damaging factor in a project’s potential for success.
Specific Risk
This is also known as Project risk, and is the risk associated specifically with your project. Again, this type of risk in unavoidable and every project will be subject to an element of Specific Risk. Nevertheless, many of these risks can be influenced and mitigated against by the prudent actions of the project manager, such as the selection of collective skills of the employees chosen to work on the project.
Stage Risk
This is the risk associated with the particular task in hand during a certain phase of the project plan. For example, in a large urban building project, there may be risk in one phase that you have problems with logistics whereby delivery trucks need to arrive on time and in sequence in order to facilitate the overall workflow.
This is the risk associated with the particular task in hand during a certain phase of the project plan. For example, in a large urban building project, there may be risk in one phase that you have problems with logistics whereby delivery trucks need to arrive on time and in sequence in order to facilitate the overall workflow.
Planning for risks
To keep on top of all these potential risks it’s a very good idea to have a formal plan of all the potential risks you could encounter. This is commonly referred to as a Risk Register. Risks may be difficult to spot, and so you should ask for the input of everyone involved with this particular project. In fact, it is often members of the project team at lower levels of the organisation that may be able to identify smaller, yet still significant potential issues as they are likely to have a greater working knowledge of the potential end product than the managers or other senior employees. A series of formal, and informal, workshops might be a good way to get other peoples opinions.
To keep on top of all these potential risks it’s a very good idea to have a formal plan of all the potential risks you could encounter. This is commonly referred to as a Risk Register. Risks may be difficult to spot, and so you should ask for the input of everyone involved with this particular project. In fact, it is often members of the project team at lower levels of the organisation that may be able to identify smaller, yet still significant potential issues as they are likely to have a greater working knowledge of the potential end product than the managers or other senior employees. A series of formal, and informal, workshops might be a good way to get other peoples opinions.
Assess the Risks
Once you have identified the panoply of potential risks, you must then assess each of the risks to try and work out how likely it is to happen and what the impact of the realisation of the risk is likely to be.
The easiest way to do this is simply give your risks a score of 1-10 depending on how severe and how likely it is to happen. These scores can help you to spot the important risks that you need to keep an eye on. However, the traffic light system is another commonly used risk identifier, which has the benefit of providing a good project risk overview at a glance.
Once you have identified the panoply of potential risks, you must then assess each of the risks to try and work out how likely it is to happen and what the impact of the realisation of the risk is likely to be.
The easiest way to do this is simply give your risks a score of 1-10 depending on how severe and how likely it is to happen. These scores can help you to spot the important risks that you need to keep an eye on. However, the traffic light system is another commonly used risk identifier, which has the benefit of providing a good project risk overview at a glance.
Risk Prevention and Mitigation
Risk is almost impossible to prevent, but it can me minimised and mitigated against. As such, you must continually assess the importance of specific risks, as during different phases of the project the likelihood of each risk could change.
For every identified risk, you need to come up with a suitable and cost effective counter measure. If, on consideration, it’s possible to completely remove a specific risk by subtly altering the workflow, then this can form a sort of pre-emptive counter action. If it can’t be removed completely then effort should be taken to minimise the subsequent effects of the risk as much as possible.
Risk is almost impossible to prevent, but it can me minimised and mitigated against. As such, you must continually assess the importance of specific risks, as during different phases of the project the likelihood of each risk could change.
For every identified risk, you need to come up with a suitable and cost effective counter measure. If, on consideration, it’s possible to completely remove a specific risk by subtly altering the workflow, then this can form a sort of pre-emptive counter action. If it can’t be removed completely then effort should be taken to minimise the subsequent effects of the risk as much as possible.
Issues
We’ve just spent some time looking at risks, a risk is something that could happen but hasn’t happened yet. An issue however is something that has already happened and is potentially causing a problem. Putting things right in a project when it HAS ALREADY gone wrong is a complex subject and outside the scope of this article, but if it has happened to you, there are many articles, books and journals that will be able to help you in this regard.
We’ve just spent some time looking at risks, a risk is something that could happen but hasn’t happened yet. An issue however is something that has already happened and is potentially causing a problem. Putting things right in a project when it HAS ALREADY gone wrong is a complex subject and outside the scope of this article, but if it has happened to you, there are many articles, books and journals that will be able to help you in this regard.
How to manage Risks and Issues
In conclusion, it’s important to monitor and keep an eye on the effectiveness of risk avoidance measures to find out whether or not they are successful. With careful project management, it should be possible to minimise, even if you can’t eliminate, the impact of virtually any type of risk in a project.
The types of risks that would be in play for an outsourced project would include but not be limited to those mentioned above.
We at Picaso Consulting can support you in managing the risk of your project.
In conclusion, it’s important to monitor and keep an eye on the effectiveness of risk avoidance measures to find out whether or not they are successful. With careful project management, it should be possible to minimise, even if you can’t eliminate, the impact of virtually any type of risk in a project.
The types of risks that would be in play for an outsourced project would include but not be limited to those mentioned above.
We at Picaso Consulting can support you in managing the risk of your project.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Defining a Workplan in a Project
People that are not familiar with project management often think that it’s a very simple job that anyone could do. If you’ve ever actually tried to manage a project then you will know that this certainly isn’t the case! Many people who are not used to managing projects end up overcomplicating things, which can cause other problems.
If you want to take a project management role on, then it would be a very good idea to understand exactly what the role entails. Picaso Consulting aims to suport companies throughout the project management life cycle.
Assembling your Team
Before you can get on to designing the workplan for your project you need to assemble your team. This should include a representative from people who will play a part in the project. Be sure to include customers, employees and subcontractors. This is an important step as it helps you to define the roles of each person.
Objectives
This is the step that most people skip, you need to think of exactly what you want to achieve by doing the project. Although you may know already, it’s important to think about it again now.
Plan
You should then organize the project into a simple work plan and make sure that you include the estimated durations in the plan. The idea of the plan is to work out how the project will be completed. The project manager should be able to use the plan to predict when certain phases of the project will be completed; it will be used to stay on target to finish on time.
Enhance your Plan
Once you have your initial project plan you should improve it by adding more information to it. You need to consider the costs, risks and resources. For example every company has a limited number of employees, these are resources. If the project manager believes that employees are too busy, then some form of contingency planning needs to be worked into the project plan.
The cost of the project is also important, if you run well over your estimated amount then the value of the project plan will be greatly reduced. Moreover, accurate cost forecasts will help you to manage your cash flow much better.
Sometimes something occurs to endanger the project even if you are doing everything you possibly can. In this case, you should use risk management techniques to minimize the risks.
Trial and Error
Once the team has published your project work plan, many people think that you can just sit back and relax. That’s just not the case!
You should keep an eye on the project and continually adjust the plan if you need to. These adjustments to the plan should be used to minimize the risks, make up for delays, or incorporate scope changes. The plan can be republished and given to stakeholders until no more correction is needed.
Closure
Once the project has been completed the project can be closed by the project manager. This will include filing away the project documents, and some financial tasks. As a project manager, you should be willing to learn from your mistakes, in order to benefit future projects.
Allow Picaso Consulting to help you deliver the projects in a timely and Professional manner.
If you want to take a project management role on, then it would be a very good idea to understand exactly what the role entails. Picaso Consulting aims to suport companies throughout the project management life cycle.
Assembling your Team
Before you can get on to designing the workplan for your project you need to assemble your team. This should include a representative from people who will play a part in the project. Be sure to include customers, employees and subcontractors. This is an important step as it helps you to define the roles of each person.
Objectives
This is the step that most people skip, you need to think of exactly what you want to achieve by doing the project. Although you may know already, it’s important to think about it again now.
Plan
You should then organize the project into a simple work plan and make sure that you include the estimated durations in the plan. The idea of the plan is to work out how the project will be completed. The project manager should be able to use the plan to predict when certain phases of the project will be completed; it will be used to stay on target to finish on time.
Enhance your Plan
Once you have your initial project plan you should improve it by adding more information to it. You need to consider the costs, risks and resources. For example every company has a limited number of employees, these are resources. If the project manager believes that employees are too busy, then some form of contingency planning needs to be worked into the project plan.
The cost of the project is also important, if you run well over your estimated amount then the value of the project plan will be greatly reduced. Moreover, accurate cost forecasts will help you to manage your cash flow much better.
Sometimes something occurs to endanger the project even if you are doing everything you possibly can. In this case, you should use risk management techniques to minimize the risks.
Trial and Error
Once the team has published your project work plan, many people think that you can just sit back and relax. That’s just not the case!
You should keep an eye on the project and continually adjust the plan if you need to. These adjustments to the plan should be used to minimize the risks, make up for delays, or incorporate scope changes. The plan can be republished and given to stakeholders until no more correction is needed.
Closure
Once the project has been completed the project can be closed by the project manager. This will include filing away the project documents, and some financial tasks. As a project manager, you should be willing to learn from your mistakes, in order to benefit future projects.
Allow Picaso Consulting to help you deliver the projects in a timely and Professional manner.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Change Reqest Management
Given that a project is a dynamic process, it is unrealistic to assume that requests for change will not occur. These changes will originate from changes in the user requirements and/or difficulties in realising the user specification in practice. Project Management via the Project Management Office need to manage the process and at Picaso Consulting we support in ensuring that this process is run effectively and efficiently.
One of the most effective methods of dealing with the need to amend projects is to have a project change procedure. Although this procedure will not remoe all risks, it will enable some changes to be made with minimal disruption and slippage. These request for change will occur in all implementations and it is vital that the process is well managed.
The Change Request Management plan is a definition of the formal process for making changes to the project’s original scope. It generally involves redefining existing objective and deliverables or specifying new project objectives and deliverables. The procedure for changes is as follows:
Change requests should initially be awarded a change priority classification code based on a set of standards. These can be either simply alphanumerical, or descriptive such as Critical, High Importance, and Medium Importance etcetera.
After the change request evaluation, the project manager should schedule a change decision meeting. Participants in this meeting should include the project sponsors, the change review committee, the project manger, the originator of the request, as well as any other interested and affected stakeholders.
The project manager will present the proposed change and the results of the evaluation, including a copy of the proposed project plan illustrating the impact of the change. The requestor may choose to speak on behalf of the change and the evaluators may also choose to defend their evaluation, if necessary. The project manager should only become significantly involve if the evaluation indicates that the proposed change would have a significant effect on the overall project in terms of finance, scheduling, or the eventual effect on the project’s service or product.
In all but very minor cases, the later that a project change is made, the more difficult it will be to implement without significant repercussions. The ramifications of the change will also vary proportionally with the size of the change. It may be that minor adjustments here and there may have a negligible effect, but a significant change in scope may set a long project back several weeks, months, or even years.
In short, a change request management procedure for any given project should include, but not necessarily be limited to the following:
- Identifying the need for change.
- Change recommendation.
- Analysis of the feasibility of change.
- Steering committee approval.
- Project sponsor approval.
- Amendment an agreement on the revised project plan.
- Implementing the change.
- Continue constant review.
The final task is to communicate the revised change request plan to all project team members and stakeholders, explaining the rationale where resistance is encountered. It is also important at this point to ensure that the minutes of meetings, decisions reached and agreements made are documented and retained.
In conclusion, change should be expected in any given project, but, as discussed in this article, is very much a manageable issue of the simple steps discussed above are followed.
Picaso Consulting consults in Strategy and Technology. We optimise your Business through Business Consulting and IT.
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