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
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