Project Management

Principles of Project Management

Make sure your projects are driven by benefits that support your strategy

You should be able to demonstrate explicitly how each project you undertake fits your business strategy. The screening out of unwanted projects as soon as possible is essential. Companies with clear strategies are able to screen more effectively than those without. The less clear the strategy, the more likely unsuitable projects are to pass the screening: hence there will be more projects competing for scarce resources, resulting in the company losing focus and risking its overall performance.

Use a staged approach to manage your project

Rarely is it possible to plan a project in its entirety from start to finish; there are simply too many unknowns. You should, however, be able to plan the next stage in detail and to the end of the project in outline. As you progress through the project you gather more information, reduce uncertainty, and increase confidence. The typical framework comprises the following progressive steps, or stages:

• Proposal—identifying the idea or need.
• Initial investigation—a brief overview of the possible requirements and solutions.
• Detailed investigation—undertaking a feasibility study of the options and defining the chosen solution.
• Development and testing—building the solution.
• Trial—piloting the solution with real people.
• Operation and closure—putting it into practice and closing the project.

Use a typical staged project framework

You should use the same generic stages for all types of project. This makes the use and understanding of the process familiar and easier, avoiding the need to learn different processes for various types of project. What differs is the content of each project, the level of activity, the nature of the activity, the resources required, and the stakeholders and decision makers needed within each use of the framework. The gates are entry points to each stage, and are the key check points for revalidating a project and committing resources and funding.

Place high emphasis on the early stages of the project

The early stages of a project are fundamental to success. High emphasis might mean that between 30% and 50% of the project’s life cycle is devoted to investigative stages before any final deliverable is physically built. Research clearly demonstrates that placing heavy emphasis up-front significantly decreases the time to market/completion. Good investigative work means clearer objectives and plans; work spent on this is rarely wasted effort. Decisions taken at the early stages of a project have a far-reaching effect and set the tone for the remainder. In the early stages, creative solutions can slash delivery times in half or cut costs dramatically. Once development is underway it is rarely possible to effect savings of more than a few percent, and introducing changes later can be very costly.

Engage your stakeholders and understand their current and future needs

A stakeholder is any person involved in or affected by a project. The involvement of stakeholders such as users and customers adds considerable value at all stages of the project. Engaging the stakeholders is a powerful mover for change, while ignoring them can lead to failure. When viewed from a stakeholder perspective, your project may be just one more problem they have to cope with in addition to fulfilling their usual duties; it may appear irrelevant to them, or even regressive. If their consent is required to make things happen, it is unwise to ignore them.

Always address all aspects, not just technology

Projects are not just about technology; they should cover every aspect required to achieve the expected benefits. Stakeholders should be identified to cover every base.

Encourage teamwork and commitment

The need for many projects to draw on people from a range of functions means a cross-functional team approach is essential. The more closely people work and the more open the management style, the better they perform. Although this is not always practical, closeness can be achieved by frequent meetings and good communication, often through Web tools or video-conferencing.

Ensure that project teams work across functions

The more functionally structured a company, the more difficult it is to implement effective project management: project management by its nature crosses functional boundaries. To make projects succeed, the balance of power usually needs to be tipped towards the project and away from line management.

Monitor against the plan

Good planning and control are prerequisites for effective project management. There must be guidance, training, and support for all staff related to projects, including senior managers who sponsor projects or make project-related decisions. Core control techniques include planning, managing risk, issues, scope change, schedule, cost, and reviews.

Planning as a discipline is essential. If you have no definition of the project and no plan, you’re unlikely to be successful. It will be virtually impossible to communicate your intentions to the project team and stakeholders. Furthermore, if there is no plan, terms such as ‘early’, ‘late’, and ‘within budget’ have no real meaning.

Risk management is key: using a staged approach is itself a risk management technique, with the gates acting as formal review points at which risk is put in the context of the business benefits and cost of delivery. Projects are risky, and it is essential to analyse the project, determine which are the inherently risky parts, and take action to reduce, avoid, or, in some cases, insure against those risks while looking to exploit any opportunities that arise.

Despite all this foresight and care, things will not always go smoothly. Unforeseen issues do arise that, if not resolved, threaten the success of the project. Monitoring and forecasting against the agreed plan is a discipline that ensures events do not take those involved in the project by surprise. This is best illustrated by the ‘project control cycle’. The appropriate frequency for the cycle (daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly) depends on the project, its stage of development, and the inherent risk.

Manage the project control cycle

Such monitoring should focus more on the future than on what has actually been completed. Completion of activities is evidence of progress, but is not sufficient to predict whether milestones will continue to be met. The project manager should continually check that the plan is still fit for purpose and likely to deliver the business benefits on time.

Many projects are late or never even get completed. One of the reasons for this is scope creep: more and more ideas are incorporated into the project, resulting in higher costs and late delivery. Managing change is critical to benefits being achieved and the project not getting derailed by good ideas or good intentions. Changes, even beneficial ones, must be managed to guarantee that only those enabling the project benefits to be realised are accepted; you must communicate this to the team and stakeholders so they are absolutely clear what the current project comprises. Always remember that the ultimate change is to terminate a project that is no longer viable!

Formally close the project

Finally, every project must be closed, either because it has completed its work or because it has been terminated early. By explicitly closing a project you make sure that all work ceases, lessons are learned, and any remaining assets, funding, or resources can be released for other purposes.