A Project Management Toolkit for Occasional Project Managers

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Brent Lane
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1 A Project Management Toolkit for Occasional Project Managers Gareth RT White University of Glamorgan, University of the West of England

2 The absence of plans removes the period of anxiety which precedes project failure (Sir John Harvey Jones)

3 All functions and specialisms have their own particular set of guiding principles, methods and tools: Production - MRP, SAP HR - appraisals, psychometric analysis Operations - TQM, Kaizen As employees of organisations we are involved with most of these methods and tools: But how many of us use proper project management tools?

psychometric analysis Operations - TQM, Kaizen As employees of organisations we

4 Project Management Tools: Prince a complex product-based tool for planning and managing projects. PERT Statistics-based project evaluation tool. CPA/M diagrammatic representation of project logic and timing. GANTT diagrammatic representation of project logic, time & resource. PBS simple product-based planning tool. Software such as Microsoft Project.

CPA/M diagrammatic representation of project logic and timing.

5 Why don t we use these tools? Awareness & training: Constraints: Few purpose made training courses. Project Management is a discipline that few are professionally involved in. People feel productive by diving into the project and getting the job done. It is preferable for the boss to see staff doing something. You don t have time to learn a new system or method. I know what to do anyway

Project Management is a discipline that few are professionally involved in.

6 Reasons for workplace project failure: Definition Scheduling having an unclear view of what needs to be done. not knowing when things should be done. Implementation not coordinating the activities.

7 Problems to be solved: Managing a successful project, or managing a project successfully by avoiding the problems of poor definition, planning and implementation. Build our project management skills and abilities. Appear productive and feel productive. Alleviating some of the workplace pressures. All without taking too much time and effort!!!!

Build our project management skills and abilities.

8 The Approach: Definition List of things to do Makes sure we do all that is needed, expected and wanted. Gives a measurable objective to achieve. It s a device for communicating agreement. Plan List of how & when to do things Makes sure we can do all that is needed etc. Gives everyone clear ideas of what to do. It s a device for communicating how much you will be doing. Implement Control who does what and when Makes sure everything gets done. Shows people what has been done and what they need to do. It s a device for communicating progress.

Plan List of how & when to do things Makes sure we can do all that is needed etc. Gives everyone clear ideas of what to do.

9 The Tools: The GANTT Chart. It s a simple list of all project activities. It shows the sequence of events clearly. It can show responsibilities. It shows completed and unfinished work. It s a good communication tool for, the boss, the team yourself.

10 Disappointed? So what have you told us that is new? Communication as a Tool: GANTT chart information is useless unless communicated. It is useless if it is incomplete or incorrect. It is useless is the sequence of tasks are inefficient or unachievable.

11 The Value and Purpose of the Tools: Using the GANTT chart to compile project deliverables with stakeholders is vital we agreed to do A,B and C Using the GANTT chart to determine sequences of events and responsibilities with the team buys-in their expertise, understanding and commitment. Regularly communicating progress maintains motivation, highlights problems and means corrective action can be taken instead of reactive. Reviewing the completed project allows us to learn what went well and what went badly.

expertise, understanding and commitment.

12 Summary: Many projects are too small to justify using dedicated project management software or techniques. Many of us are involved in project Management too infrequently to warrant lengthy training and do not build up vast stores of experience. We can use simple tools to help plan, communicate and control our projects the key is to actually use them!

Many of us are involved in project Management too infrequently to warrant lengthy

13 A Project Management Toolkit for Occasional Project Managers Thank you for your attention.

PLANNING FOR YOUR PROJECT

PLANNING FOR YOUR PROJECT This tool kit has been designed to provide an introduction to planning. It will help you to think about the reasons behind why you should plan, what to plan and the variations