Interactive work: Project management for dummies
- 1. PROJECT MANAGEMENT FOR DUMMIES: PART IV: STEERING THE SHIP: MANAGING YOUR PROJECT TO SUCCESS JORGE LUIS RENGIFO TUTOR: MSC. MIGUEL PONCE
- 2. CHAPTER 12 TRACKING PROGRESS AND MAINTAINING CONTROL Successful projects require continued care and management to ensure that they follow their plans correctly and, in turn, produce the desired results. When unexpected situations occur, you, as the project manager, must react promptly to adjust your efforts and keep your project on track.
- 3. HOLDING ON TO THE REINS: PROJECT CONTROL Project control entails the following activities, which you perform through-out your project to ensure that it proceeds according to plan and produces the desired results (see the appendix for a flowchart illustrating the cyclical nature of project control): Reconfirming the plan: At the beginning of each performance period, reaffirm with team members the following project responsibilities and commitments they made for the coming period: Assessing performance: During the performance period, have team members record information on the following: • Completed intermediate and final deliverables • Dates they reached milestones • Dates they started and ended activities Taking corrective action: If necessary, take steps to bring your project’s performance back into conformance with your plans, or if doing so isn’t possible, change the plans to reflect new expectations.
- 4. ESTABLISHING PROJECT MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS A project management information system is a set of procedures, equipment, and other resources for collecting, analyzing, storing, and reporting information that describes project performance It contains the following three parts: Inputs: Raw data that describe selected aspects of project performance Processes: Analyses of the data to compare actual performance with planned performance Outputs: Reports presenting the results of the analyses In addition to requiring that you define the data, designing a PMIS also requires that you specify how to collect the data, who collects it, when and why.
- 5. REACTING RESPONSIBLY WHEN CHANGES ARE REQUESTED Many times we will have to modify the project, for various reasons, by changes of opinion, change of circumstances, improvements of systems or technologies that's why it's important to be willing to make the necessary changes to achieve positive results in our projects. always follow these steps: 1. When you receive a request for change to some aspect of your project, clarify exactly what the request is asking you to do. 2. If possible, ask for the request in writing or confirm your understanding of the request by writing it down yourself. In a formal change-control system, people must submit every request for change on a change-request form. 3. Assess the change’s potential effects on all aspects of your project. Also consider what may happen if you don’t make the change. 4. Decide whether you’ll implement the change. If this change affects other people, involve them in the decision, too.
- 6. CHAPTER 13 KEEPING EVERYONE INFORMED Many projects are just like that walk across the dark room. People plan how they’ll perform the project — who will do what, by when, and for how much — and they share this information with the team members and other people who will support the project. But as soon as the project work begins, people receive no information about their progress, the work remaining, or obstacles that may lie ahead. Effective communication — sharing the right messages with the right people in a timely manner — is a key to successful projects. Informative communications support the following: • Continued buy in and support from key audiences and team members • Prompt problem identification and decision making • A clear project focus • Ongoing recognition of project achievements • Productive working relationships among team members
- 7. I SAID WHAT I MEANT AND I MEANT WHAT I SAID: SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION BASICS The communication within a company or project must be fluid and effective, it can not be lost or changed. The process of transmitting information includes the following components: Message: The thoughts or ideas being transmitted Sender: The person transmitting the message Encoded message: The message translated into a language understand-able to others (This language may consist of words, pictures, or actions.) Medium: The method used to convey the message (I discuss different mediums in detail in the “Choosing the Appropriate Medium for Project Communication” section later in this chapter.
- 8. CHOOSING THE APPROPRIATE MEDIUM FOR PROJECT COMMUNICATION Project communications come in two forms: • Formal: Formal communications are preplanned and conducted in a standard format in accordance with an established schedule. Examples include weekly team meetings and monthly progress reports. • Informal: Informal communications occur as people think of information they want to share. These communications occur continuously in the normal course of business. Examples include brief conversations by the water cooler and spur-of-the-moment e-mails you dash off during the day
- 9. • Although written reports have quite a few benefits, they also have some draw-backs that you need to consider: • They don’t allow your audience to ask questions to clarify the content, meaning, and implication of your message. • With written reports, you can’t verify that your audience received and interpreted your message as you intended. • They don’t enable you to pick up nonverbal signals that suggest your audience’s reactions to the message, and they don’t support interactive discussion and brainstorming about your message.
- 10. Preparing a Written Project-Progress Report The project-progress report is a project’s most common written communication. The report reviews activities performed during a performance period, describes problems encountered and the corrective actions planned and taken, and previews plans for the next period
- 11. PREPARING A PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT PLAN A project Communications Management Plan is a document that specifies all project communications generated throughout the project, their target audiences, their information content, and their frequency. Prepare an initial version of your project Communications Management Plan in the starting the project stage of your project, and update it as needed in the carrying out the work stage.
- 12. CHAPTER 14 ENCOURAGING PEAK PERFORMANCE BY PROVIDING EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP Leadership is one of the most important issues facing organizations. As a result, a large body of literature has emerged to explore how to guide people to achieve common goals in a wide variety of settings. Your project’s success depends on your ability to organize, coordinate, and support a diverse team that’s working toward a common goal Often the people on your team come from different areas of your organization, have different operating styles, and don’t report to you administratively. Successfully guiding such a group of people requires both vision and structure.
- 13. COMPARING LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT - The manager maintains; the leader develops. – The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people. – The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust. – The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long- range perspective. – The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why. – The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader’s eye is on the horizon. – The manager imitates; the leader originates.
- 14. YOU CAN DO IT! CREATING AND SUSTAINING TEAM MEMBER MOTIVATION Keep your team and yourself motivated. Here are some factors that influence the motivation of your work group: Desirability: The value of achieving the goal Feasibility: The likelihood that you can achieve the goal Progress: Your accomplishments as you work to reach your goal Reward: The payoff when you reach the goal When your project meets people's professional and personal needs in each of these four areas, you strengthen your commitment to the project's success. In this section, I show you specific ways to meet these needs.
- 15. CHAPTER 15 BRINGING YOUR PROJECT TO CLOSURE One characteristic that distinguishes a project from other work assignments is its distinct end - the point at which all work is complete and the results are achieved. However, with intense demands pulling you to your next assignment, you may be compelled to let your completed projects languish and eventually fade away instead of clearly ending them with an announcement, recognition of the results, and to thank-you to all the people who made them possible. This is why it is important to bring your projects to a total and orderly closure.
- 16. STAYING THE COURSE TO COMPLETION Every project must be finished correctly in order to analyze its results, its benefits, compare investment costs, etc. The following situations make it difficult to close a project: • You don’t have a detailed, written list of all the activities you must perform during closeout. • Some team members transferred to new assignments during your project’s course, forcing the remaining members to assume new responsibilities in addition to their original ones. • The project staff loses motivation as general interest in the project wanes and people look forward to new assignments. • The project staff wants the project to continue because they don’t want to end the personal and professional relationships they’ve developed or they’re not excited about their next assignments.
- 17. HANDLING ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES • When the project ends, terminate all authorizations and permits granted to your collaborators, leave your financial accounts in order, pay everything you owe, obtain approvals from clients and your superiors in writing.
- 18. PROVIDING A GOOD TRANSITION FOR TEAM MEMBERS • When a project is finished people must return to their daily activities, for that you have to do it in an orderly manner, with time, maintaining good communication with everyone, thanking all the team members, make a document where all the contributions of the members, help the people to make a transition plan to their normal activities.
- 19. SURVEYING THE RESULTS: THE POST- PROJECT EVALUATION • Conduct a survey to measure the results, activities, processes and reliable techniques that can be used in new projects.