Project Management Unleashed !!!

Two important factors in successful project management is the strategic definition of the project’s scope and time deadlines.

Since a project, is by definition, a specific target of a completed work within a specified time period, it is crucial to be able to harmonize the scope and the time period properly. You will need sufficient time to enable you to accomplish your objectives without sacrificing quality, and yet speedily enough without having to sacrifice quality. Nobody, of course, will want to invest in a project that takes too long to complete.

Time

There are several techniques by which to estimate time periods. Essentially, most of these project techniques involve the breaking down of specific or particular tasks into smaller manageable units and assigning a time period for their completion.

This time estimation, however, must take into consideration the resources available to you like people, equipment and materials. A general leeway for unexpected events such as people calling in sick or deliverables not being delivered on time should be at hand.

Once you are able to breakdown the project into manageable tasks, it is easy enough to create specific timelines for each task. This can help ensure that the project is being performed on time, according to the gradual performance of each particular stage involved.

Taken together, the total time constraints can give a general idea of the entire duration of the project. Thus, you can reasonably estimate when a project might be completed and whether expenses might shoot up in the meantime or whether the project itself is still a feasible undertaking years later when it is finally completed.

Scope

This is the broad overview of what the entire project seeks to accomplish. While mainly it refers to the project itself, an often overlooked factor is the quality of the end-product, considering all the other resources that have been invested into it, such as time,money, equipments and people skills.

Hence, given a particular time period, it is perhaps better to shoot for a more reasonable target or goal. Although this might mean a greatly diminished scope of the project, if it is the best that can be done given all the other factors, then it would be best to adjust accordingly. No big project that takes so much to bring to completion should needlessly compromise what could otherwise be superior quality. In fact, exceptional quality in the end result could be the proper justification for all the time and effort put into it in the first place.

Identify the risk factors

Part of good project management is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances over the time period within which the project is being completed. This means being able to forecast or predict sudden changes – either in the market, in the social and political landscape, and even natural and environmental factors that might adversely affect the project’s completion.

Hence, if for example the rainy season is coming up, be sure to factor in the reality that some days might not be especially fruitful for a construction project, for instance. The appropriate measures should also be taken to ensure that half-completed work will not suffer from the elements and should not be susceptible to ruin or damage in the meantime.

There are specific techniques involved with decision making. Some of the more popular methods for decision-making include:

Pareto Analysis – This method is used when a project manager wishes to make changes, but is unsure of which changes to make. What he then does is makes a list of desired changes, ranks them, and then acts on the change with the highest ranking.

Decision Trees - Here, the manager will diagram the decisions that need to be made. For example, if the manager needs to decide between giving everyone a raise and developing a new product to generate more income, the tree will have these two items as “branches.” Each consequence or decision stemming from the original branch is diagrammed. Finally, after careful analysis the decision is made that will have weighed the various outcomes.

Cost/Benefit Analysis – This is the standard chart we made in grade school to help us clarify difficult decisions. You start with the decision that has to be made. Underneath it you begin listing the various costs involved in each choice. Once each choice has costs listed, then you list the benefits from making each choice. Analyze each section and make a decision based upon the choice with the least cost or the greatest benefit.

There are many other methods for decision-making when it comes to business choices. The importance of project management in terms of decision making lies in the fact that carefully managed projects will have most decisions already made.

A project manager is the person who has the overall responsibility for the successful initiation, planning, execution and closure of a project.

The project manager must possess a combination of skills including an ability to ask penetrating questions, detect unstated assumptions and resolve interpersonal conflicts as well as more systematic project management skills.

Key amongst his/her duties is the recognition that risk directly impacts the likelihood of success and that this risk must be both formally and informally measured throughout the lifetime of the project.

Risk arises primarily from uncertainty and the successful project manager is the one who focuses upon this as the main concern. Most of the issues that impact a project arise in one way or another from risk. A good project manager can reduce risk significantly, often by adhering to a policy of open project communication, ensuring that every significant participant has an opportunity to express opinions and concerns.

It follows from the above that a project manager is one who is responsible for making decisions both large and small, in such a way that risk is controlled and uncertainty minimised. Every decision taken by the project manager should be taken in such a way that it directly benefits the project.

Project managers use project management software, such as Microsoft Project, to organise their tasks and workforce. These software packages allow project managers to produce reports and charts in a few minutes, compared to the several hours it can take if they do not use a software package.

Some of the roles & responsibilities of a project manager includes Planning and Defining Scope,Activity Planning and Sequencing,Resource Planning,Developing Schedules,Time Estimating,Cost Estimating,Developing a Budget,Controlling Quality,Managing Risks and Issues.

Has your project gone out of control–threatening to be both behind schedule and over budget? Here’s mentioned a multitude of reasons for a project going out of control.

Sloppy requirements:

Every project depends upon solid user requirements being firmly locked down prior to any work being undertaken. Failure to do so is a leading cause for project failure.

Schedule slippage:

Many times, project scheduling spiral out of control when dates and deliverables aren’t aggressively monitored and tracked on a daily basis.

Budget overrun:

Projects that run over budget are sometimes more prone to being canceled because senior executives are concerned about cash going into and out of company coffers.This means that project manager must manage their actual budgets against the planned budget and keep their stakeholders aware of any deviation.

Poor planning and estimation:

Those projects that are poorly estimated and planned tend to fail both in cost and schedule, which eventually causes the overall project to fail.

Poor documentation:

Maintaining inadequate project documentation is cause for concern and a big reason for project failure.

Poor testing:

A big culprit on any project management is having either too little testing or, in many cases—if a test team is involved—testing too late in the process. Both testing and quality assurance need to be built into the project from the day the project is launched.