A Practical Approach to Project Management

What is practical project management?

It means keeping project management simple and not getting bogged down in large unwieldy processes. It doesn't mean cutting corners. Good project management practice is still important, it's just about keeping it lean and mean. This with getting the basics right will help you deliver a successful project.

Beginning

Following these basic principles will give your project a good start:

• Keep it simple!
• Identify the audience.
• Who benefits?
• Get buy-in.
• Deliver the plan.
• Follow the idea through to use.

Requirements

Take a piece of paper and draw a house. Now ask five people to each draw a house and compare it with the one you have drawn. Hey presto, five houses different from yours. We may have town houses, family houses, bungalows, maisonettes, the list goes on. All houses, but different in size, layout, decor and many other ways. The same applies to project requirements. Your view of the customer needs could be different to that of your customer. Ensure you gather a concise, accurate and signed-off set of requirements before you start building.

Communicate

Does everyone understand the project well enough to give an elevator speech? If the answer is no, create a one-page executive summary about the project that gives all the key information. The content of your executive summary might be something like this:

• Give it a name - bring it to life.
• Start and finish date - everyone needs a target.
• Project leader - the right person for the job.
• Objective - make it clear and concise.
• Business potential - buy-in at every level.
• Idea summary - outline of what it is.
• Key issues - what are the stumbling blocks.
• Timeline - hitting the milestones.
• Resources and materials - everyone likes to know up front.
• Budget - what do you need, who signs it off.
• Evaluation - how we measure it, did it deliver?
• Ideas for improvement - sets you up for the next project.

Circulate this summary to all your stakeholders before you start.

Kick-Off

You've now got an agreed set of requirements and communicated the project to everyone that needs to know. It's time to begin. Arrange a project kick-off meeting remembering:

• Everyone needs to be there.
• Get the executive summary to everyone first in plenty of time and follow up.
• The project leader needs to be in control.
• Involve the end-users.
• Ask for feedback to find out the problems.

Ask attendees to explain what the project is, what their involvement is; what they need, by when, find out what the potential problems are and how they are going to tackle them.

Control

Now the project is underway you must deliver the plan; communicate progress and manage resources. This is where you earn your money.

• Regular updates - don't let it slip.
• Stick to the project plan and thoroughly examine it.
• Put people on the spot.
• No matter what happens get it done.
• Test, test, test.
• Keep the end-users involved.

Delivery

You've created something, now people need to use it.

• Make sure it works!
• Choose the right person to champion it.
• Create a fanfare.
• Don't forget the training.
• Follow-up: have pre-arranged meetings in place to make sure everything is working to plan.

Problem Areas

Watch out for these common project management gotchas:

• Creating a 50-page plan you'll never carry out. Remember, "A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." - General George S. Patton, JR
• Filing project assets wrongly then wasting time looking for them.
• People involving themselves in areas where they have little or no knowledge. This wastes time and money. Avoid!
• Bottlenecks that slow your project down. Deal with them!

Remember

These are some of the important items you need to bear in mind before, during and after project delivery:

• Baseline your plan so you can see your progress.
• People will take ownership for their part of the project if you create the right environment.
• Constantly evaluate project progress asking, "How are we doing?"
• Everything takes longer than you think so add some slack
• Create simple easy to understand documentation.
• Regular follow up by the project leader.
• Test, test, test using external people.
• Celebrate if the project hits its schedule.
• Regularly follow-up after delivery to make sure it is all working or for improvement opportunities.
• Check delivery of the expected benefits is on track.
• Learn and document lessons from projects.
• Kill failing projects quickly.
• Have fun!

Final Thought

Keep your project processes simple. Large project processes can be a disabler to killing projects. As Sir John Harvey-Jones said, "There are times when you have to kill your favourite children." He was talking about businesses, but the same applies to projects.

A successful project comes with great leadership, not with large project processes, so keep it simple!