Project Management
Secrets

The experts tell all!

Matthew Batchelor

Contents

Title Page

Author’s Note

Good project management is vital to business success

Understand the role of projects

1.1 Projects are not tasks

1.2 Understand project constraints

1.3 Understand the project life cycle

1.4 Know your stakeholders

1.5 See your stakeholders’ points of view

1.6 Choose the right approach

1.7 ‘The buck stops here’

Aspire to succeed

2.1 Every masterpiece starts with a sketch

2.2 Get creative!

2.3 SOC it to them!

2.4 Sell the benefits

2.5 Build support

Plan for success

3.1 Define your objectives

3.2 Divide the project into work packages

3.3 First things first (and last things last)

3.4 Build a project timetable

3.5 Add contingency and use it wisely

3.6 Match people to tasks

3.7 Organize and control your project

3.8 Manage risks wisely

3.9 ‘Design in’ quality

Manage your money

4.1 Understand the role of finance

4.2 Estimate project costs

4.3 Choose to insource or outsource

4.4 Choose the right supplier

4.5 Negotiate the right type of contract

4.6 Make a return on your investment

4.7 Freeze the project budget

4.8 Control costs

Lead and inspire your team

5.1 Design in success to your project team

5.2 Understand team dynamics

5.3 Make the most of matrix working

5.4 Tailor your leadership style

5.5 Communication is more than just words

5.6 Learn to manage difficult conversations

5.7 Manage yourself, then the project

Turn your plan into reality

6.1 Plan for change

6.2 Create an open culture

6.3 Get results from team meetings

6.4 Get the data

6.5 Create a balanced project scorecard

6.6 There’s a solution to every problem

6.7 Be lucky!

Maximize project learning

7.1 Know when it’s closing time

7.2 Achieve closure

7.3 Plan to evaluate

7.4 Choose what to measure

7.5 Measure the true return on investment

7.6 Evaluation is a listening exercise

7.7 Never stop learning

Jargon buster

Further Reading

About the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

Good project management is vital to business success

In today’s highly competitive business world, more and more organizations are moving to a project approach. Whether launching a new, multi-million-dollar product or planning an office move, project management will enable you to deliver high-quality results on time and within budget.

Just as important, it provides a framework for continuous learning and improvement. In my own field of communications, I’ve spent over 20 years as a project manager, delivering projects as diverse as product launches and health conferences. I’ve observed a range of different project management approaches in action, and tried to adopt the best of them to improve the quality of the projects I manage.

Successful project management is about good systems and good leadership, to be sure, but it’s also about exercising good judgement when required. This book will help you develop all three of these skills. It aims to impart what I believe are the 50 most important project management secrets I’ve learnt along the way. These secrets are divided into seven key chapters:

Understand the role of projects. This section introduces you to the world of project management and helps you choose the right approach.

Aspire to succeed. To start your project you need a clear ‘vision’ and the ability to convince people to support your project.

Plan for success. Learn how to use Gantt charts, network diagrams and other essential tools for the project manager.

Manage your money. This section tells you how to build a project budget, manage risks and allocate contingency (extra); it will also help you identify the key areas to focus on to keep costs under control.

Lead and inspire your team. How to recruit, manage and fire up your project team.

Turn your plan into reality. Introduces some of the most common project management software, shows how to monitor progress accurately, and how to diagnose and solve problems.

Maximize project learning. Shows you how to close a project properly and conduct an effective evaluation.

Whether you are an experienced project manager or novice, if you follow these simple rules, you will be more confident in your ability to lead projects succesfully. This book will not only teach you how to act like a project manager but also enable you to think like one!

Great leadership, effective systems and making good judgements are vital in project management.

Understand the role of projects

This chapter aims to give you an understanding of the essential background to project management. It discusses the concept of the project life cycle, introduces the main stakeholders, and describes the role of the project manager. The most popular approaches to managing projects are discussed, along with some of the most popular software tools.

1.1 Projects are not tasks

Before getting started, it’s worth understanding what a ‘project’ actually is. The UK Association of Project Management (APM) defines a project as ‘a unique, transient endeavour undertaken to achieve a desired outcome’. In other words, a project has a defined beginning, middle and end, and a stated purpose.

Managing a project therefore differs from fulfilling a task, programme or professional work role. The following list helps to differentiate a project from other types of work.

• A project has a specified outcome. Unlike a job or work role where you are likely to have aims that change over time, a project sets out to achieve a stated goal (or goals) within a certain timetable.

• A project involves a number of different tasks. These tasks are generally defined as the smallest useful units of work. Related tasks are often combined into work packages or activities, which can be assigned to a single supplier or team.

• Each task will ideally be carried out by someone with suitable skills. Project working therefore calls for a multidisciplinary approach. The more complex a project, the greater the degree to which people and tasks need to be carefully matched.

one minute wonder Are you still confused about what a project is? Take a moment to consider this: despite their very different sizes, delivering the 2012 London Olympics and relocating your team to an office down the corridor are both projects. ‘Being a sales rep’ is not a project because it is an ongoing work role. On the other hand, a plan ‘to deliver a 20 per cent increase in sales leads through the installation of a new marketing database’ is likely to fulfil the critera for a project.

• A project is self-contained. It has its own aims, timetable and resources. That’s not to say that projects should be sealed off from the rest of the business – they can and should utilize skills and resources possessed by the wider organization, and the lessons learned should be exported to other colleagues and teams, and used on future projects.

Though they are capable of standing alone, projects may be linked to a wider programme of work, or be part of a portfolio of similar projects.

Adopting a project approach can yield significant benefits by defining clear outcomes against which to measure the input of resources and the quality of the project team and leadership. A project’s resources can be human, or financial or physical – equipment and so on.

A project should have a clear time frame and be undertaken to achieve a desired outcome.

1.2 Understand project constraints

Planning your project will involve making a series of assumptions and a consideration of the constraints facing your project. Understanding these factors will help you plan a project that is of the right size and has appropriate objectives.

The assumptions you might make about a project normally involve things such as:

• Scope (scale). How big is the project? Where does it fit into what your organization is doing? Roughly how much money is likely to be available?

• People. Who can I get to help deliver this project?

• Physical resources. What equipment and meeting space, for example, will be available?

None of this information has to be 100 per cent (or even 90 per cent) accurate at the outset. Nevertheless, understanding the assumptions around a project is an important first step – even if at this stage there are more questions than answers!

A useful way of looking at the constraints faced by projects is known as the ‘project triangle’. This model describes three main things to consider for any project:

• Time. How much of it do you have to complete your project?

• Cost. What is the available budget?

• Quality (or specification). Are you aiming to deliver something fairly basic, or more of a ‘Rolls Royce’ model?

With any project you will face a series of decisions about whereabouts in the triangle you position your project. For example, let’s say you are asked to complete an office move for your company. If you are asked to complete the move over a weekend at short notice, and given only a limited budget, you are unlikely to be able to deliver the best results. So the costs and time used will be low, but so will the quality. If you are given more time, the results will be better; if you have more time and a bigger budget, they will be better still.

Another dimension often added to this diagram is people. For any given amount of time and money, the greater the skill and motivation of the people involved, the better the results will be. Looked at this way, the triangle becomes a pyramid, with the project manager leading his or her team upward to achieve the best possible results within a given schedule and budget.

For your project, try listing the following in priority order – speed, quality and low cost.

1.3 Understand the project life cycle

All projects have a recognizable ‘life cycle’. There are many different approaches to managing projects, but all agree that projects can be divided into various stages, each requiring a different focus.

The most straightforward life cycle approach recognizes four main stages of a project: aspiration, planning, implementation and measurement. You can easily memorize this life cycle because the stages both represent and substitute the words for how A Project Is Managed:

1 Aspire This stage focuses on the creation of a shared vision for your project. What are you aiming to achieve and why? How will you recognize and measure success? Whose support will you need to begin the project, and what will convince them to support you?

2 Plan This stage looks in detail at identifying what needs to be done to deliver your project successfully. What are the various tasks that need to be done, and how can they best fit together? Who will you need on your project team? What resources will you need, both financial and physical (equipment, meeting spaces and so on)? What are the main risks to successful delivery, and how can these be avoided (or at least minimized)? Lastly, how will the project be managed, and progress communicated?

3 Implement This stage can be divided into two parts: motivating and monitoring. At the beginning of your project you will need to form and motivate your project team, and agree the project’s aims and working methods. Once your project is underway, your role shifts to monitoring – what progress has been made? What if any changes need to be made to the original plan? Is your project running on time, or has the schedule slipped? Are the costs as expected, or is the project in danger of going over budget? Have any problems been reported and discussed, and any necessary changes to the plan or budget been agreed?

4 Measure Once the project is complete, the final role of the project manager is to determine its success and to communicate the results, so that the lessons learned can be incorporated into other projects. To what extent were the original aims achieved? What went well and what went not so well? What lessons are there for future projects?

Adopting a life cycle approach will help you focus on the most important issues at each stage of the project.

1.4 Know your stakeholders

There are likely to be several different groups of people taking an interest in your project. Collectively, these people are known as ‘stakeholders’. It’s important to understand the actual stake each group has in the project – otherwise it may be difficult to balance what may seem like competing priorities. Here we outline the key roles.

• Sponsor. The person who has asked you to undertake the project, and to whom you are accountable for its success. Often, this will be a senior manager within your organization – maybe your immediate boss. On larger projects, or within larger organizations, you may be asked to report to the sponsor via a project executive.

• Customers or users. These are the people who will make use of the product or service you are designing, whether it be a new school, a product launch party or a company database. A key concern for this group is usability.

• Suppliers. This group of stakeholders will undertake the design and delivery of your product or service, to ensure it meets the needs of users or customers. Suppliers also play an important part in risk management.

one minute wonder A useful way of classifying a project’s stakeholders is by assessing how interested each group is in the outcome of your project, and the authority they have over it. This enables you to work out the best way to communicate with each group throughout the project, which is essential both in ensuring continued support and in planning your time.

| Low interest | High interest
Low authority | ‘Minimal effort’ | ‘Keep informed’
High authority | ‘Keep satisfied’ | ‘Key players’

• Project team. The people who will help you deliver the project. These could be colleagues from within your existing team, others from across the organization, externally recruited specialists, or a mixture of all three.

• Project manager. That’s probably you! The project manager is accountable for the planning and delivery of the project, including progress reporting and project team management. Hopefully, one of the reasons you are reading this book is to discover more about this role, which we’ll discuss in more detail in the next section.

• Others. Depending on the nature of your project, other stakeholders might include your board of directors, the media, local or national politicians or industry regulators – even your competitors.

Take time to identify the main stakeholders for your project.

1.5 See your stakeholders’ points of view

As project manager, your role is to understand the perspectives of individual stakeholders and bring them together into a shared vision for the project. This involves taking a ‘helicopter view’, to see the project as a whole.

• Business aims of the project. The project sponsor is interested in the business aims of the project. ‘What value will this project bring to the business?’ and ‘What is its role in our strategic development?’ are likely questions he or she might ask.

case study Carole was asked to take on a project to upgrade her company’s website. She started by asking each of the main stakeholders what they thought would constitute success for the project. The project sponsor, one of the company directors, replied: “I’d like you to deliver the project on time and within budget, and to keep everyone happy.” The IT manager was less concerned with how the new site would work than with ensuring it would integrate well with the existing IT system. Other managers stated different priorities. The supplier said “Project, what project? All we’ve been given is a list of required modifications.” Reflecting on these comments, Carol was concerned at the lack of clarity and shared understanding of the project. Her next step was very sensibly to call a meeting of all the main stakeholders, in order to define the key success factors and build a shared sense of purpose.

• Benefits of the project. The customer wants to know what benefits the project will bring to them and how they will be able to make use of the end product.

• Capability of the project. The skills and resources of suppliers and the project team determine the project’s capability. They will help you answer the question, “How can I successfully deliver what customers and users need, within the available schedule and budget?”

This diagram, adapted from the popular PRINCE2™ project approach (see page 23), shows how you can think about bringing these potentially diverse perspectives together.

Understand your stakeholders’ perspectives, and bring them together in a shared vision for the project.

1.6 Choose the right approach

Modern project management emerged in the 1950s, with the development of a series of techniques aimed at making planning, estimating and controlling costs and schedules more effective.

You may not need to use a formal methodology for a small project, but it is still useful to know what the main methods are.

• The traditional, or ‘waterfall’ approach. This approach treats projects as a straightforward series of steps from beginning to end. Each phase must be completed before the next begins. If, for example, your company is planning to upgrade its website, then all the user requirements must be known before the programmers begin work.

case study Ali worked for a recruitment agency, where she was asked to install a new database. She felt that the user requirements were not made clear and that the suggested timetable was possibly unrealistic. She decided to adopt an ‘agile’ approach to the project, where she and her team would meet twice a week at the start of the day to discuss problems and set short-term goals. They managed to install a working version of the new database by the specified launch date, using feedback from staff on this ‘first release’ to make modifications that were incorporated into the final version.

• PRINCE2™. This framework for managing projects was developed by the UK Government and IBM and is now used in more than 50 countries worldwide. It describes the different project roles and tasks, how to design and monitor a project, and what to do if the project isn’t going according to plan.

• ‘Agile’ or ‘lightweight’ project management. This is a more informal approach based on breaking down tasks into small units, with minimal long-term planning. It is descended from the ‘Lean’ manufacturing approach pioneered by Toyota, and often uses a framework known as Scrum. Team sizes are kept small, with face-to-face communication preferred over lengthy written reports. Agility (flexibility) is the key.

• Critical chain (CCPM). This aims to reduce project costs and timescales by making the best possible use of resources (people).

Other approaches stress the need for the close integration of project management and a wider business strategy, and emphasize the importance of becoming a learning organization.

A list of useful online resources appears in the further reading section at the end of this book.

Familiarize yourself with the main approaches to project management.

1.7 ‘The buck stops here’

Though everyone connected with the project has a role to play in bringing it to fruition, it is you, as project manager, who is ultimately responsible for its success. You are uniquely placed to see how the different elements fit together, and to drive your team forward towards completion.

Good project management rests on three fundamentals. It’s about having the right systems in place, inspiring high performance through good leadership, and exercising sound judgement when required. These are some of the key things you need:

• Process selection. It’s important to use the right tools to cover all the areas of managing a project. Before you begin the project, you will need to decide how you are going to approach planning and scheduling, budgeting and resource planning, risk management, progress monitoring and communication, and evaluation. If this sounds like a long list, don’t worry! All these aspects of project management are covered in this book.

• Approaches and methods. You can choose from a number of different approaches to managing projects (Secret 1.6).

“Project managers function as bandleaders who pull together their players, each a specialist with an individual score” L.R. Sayles, business writer

• Software to help you manage your project. Software shouldn’t be too cumbersome: ensure it is appropriate to the size of the project, otherwise you may find yourself working late every evening preparing plans and monitoring reports that nobody reads!

• Leadership skills. In modern project management, leadership involves more than just managing your project team (essential though this is). It’s about communicating effectively with all your stakeholders, to build and gain support for your project. In Project Leadership, Wendy Briner and colleagues describe how project leaders must manage the team, stakeholders and processes in order to be successful. (Project leadership is covered in Chapter 5.)

• Accurate, up-to-date information. Juggling these priorities requires the ability to ‘see the big picture’, so that you can zoom in to where action is required. You’ll need to ensure you have reliable information about the status of your project, so that you can use your judgement to make an informed decision – sometimes quickly. (There’s more on this in Chapter 6.)

• Overview of the stakeholders. From your ‘control tower’, take a little time to reflect on what other stakeholders are doing to help deliver your project, and what they expect from the project. How well do these expectations fit together? If there is a mismatch, these may need resolving – either by discussion (to agree priorities) or by amending the plan.

Juggling priorities requires the ability to see the big picture.

Aspire to succeed

Many an ‘old master’ painting started with an initial rough drawing; colours were then added and lines redrawn to produce the final picture. In the same way, every project has to start somewhere – whether as a flash of inspiration in the bath tub, or a more structured solution to a strategic problem. It’s important to know how to develop a project from these initial – and often rather vague – ideas into something more concrete.

2.1 Every masterpiece starts with a sketch

Projects don’t grow on trees, nor emerge out of thin air. As more companies adopt a project approach, they are recognizing early on when a work area should become a project: a peak in business activity with defined beginning and end points, requiring a multi-disciplinary team to carry it out.

Recognizing, initiating and developing a project idea are essential skills for any aspiring project manager.

1 Like trees, projects need strong roots. Make sure your project idea is grounded in the needs of your business, or it will be unlikely to command much support. Similarly, make sure it plays to your organization’s strengths – in other words, that it is practical and makes good use of your capabilities (as well as those of your suppliers).

2 Ideally, your project should be the solution to a business challenge. For example: how can we launch this new product succesfully? How can we cut costs and maximize opportunities

one minute wonder Before developing a project idea, ask three key questions:

• What does research show our customers or end users need? How will they make use of it?

• Why is this the right project (and is it at the right time) for our organization? How does it fit with our strategy, and with currently available resources?

• How are we (and our suppliers) going to deliver what customers need? What particular skills do we have that make this project the right choice?

for collaboration between teams? How can we improve e-communications with our customer base? All these challenges can be the inspiration for a project, such as a marketing plan, a team merger, or a new website.

3 Make sure you have the necessary support in place to get started. Try to view any criticism of your project proposal as constructive – it will help you identify potential risks and pitfalls, and to work out how to reduce the likelihood of these affecting your project.

4 If your project idea doesn’t get off the ground, don’t be discouraged. The cost of ‘closing’ your project at this stage is probably very small; this is rarely the case later on, so, by testing your idea before starting, you are likey to have saved a significant amount of money. Treat it is a learning experience and move on. Besides, without creative ideas, there would be no innovation!

Make sure your project idea is absolutely right for your business.

2.2 Get creative!

Sometimes turning an initial idea into something more coherent requires a little creative effort. In the process-driven world of projects, this can seem difficult. However, that needn’t be the case. There are a number of tools you can use to turn a bright idea into a well-defined outline of your project.

Visual planning

‘Mind maps’ – diagrams representing ideas and tasks – can be very useful for brainstorming initial project ideas. They can range in complexity from simple spider diagrams to lavishly illustrated versions. They work by engaging both sides of the brain in ordering and prioritizing ideas. They are easy to produce on a sheet of paper or company whiteboard; there are also a number of mind-mapping software packages available (some are even free).

To create a mind map, identify a starting idea or goal, say ‘plan a launch party’ for your company’s new clothing store. Write this in the middle of a sheet of paper. Then identify the ‘basic ordering ideas’ (perhaps catering, invitations and publicity), around which individual activities can be clustered on the paper. Then identify individual tasks or smaller work areas coming off different lines of activities.

Non-visual planning

Not everyone thinks visually. Some people have an auditory preference (they like to think in words and sounds), while others prefer kinaesthetic communication (they respond best to concrete ideas).

When discussing your project proposal, try listening to the metaphors people use (‘it sounds like’, ‘it feels like’ and so on) to determine their preferences. This will help you structure your communications accordingly: for example, people with an auditory preference may find it easy to use a mnemonic to recall the key features of your project. (In Secret 1.3, the phrase A Project Is Managed is an example of a mnemonic). Those with a kinaesthetic preference may find it easier to be given a ‘walk-through’ of your main ideas.

Allowing all ideas during planning

Sometimes an initial project scoping meeting can become adversarial, with several points of view being made. Often it is the most skilfully (or forcefully!) argued approach that is adopted, which may or may not be the best one. You can resist this by using your role as Chair to ensure everyone has their say, and by using a structured questioning approach.

For example, you could invite participants to analyse a proposal from three perspectives:

• Dreamer. What are the possibilities here? What new things can we create?

• Critic. Is this idea really workable? What about the risks and downsides?

• Realist. What steps need to be taken to turn these ideas into reality?

This is known as the ‘Disney model’, after Walt Disney, who often used this approach. It will give you a measured view of the proposal, and help prevent a planning meeting from descending into adversarial arguments.

Use mind maps and other tools to stimulate creativity.

2.3 SOC it to them!

Once you’ve sketched an outline of your project, the next step is to document the key points of your project. You will need this in order to get the necessary approval to proceed.

This needn’t be a detailed plan of how you’re going to achieve everything connected with the project, but should be designed to give your stakeholders (especially those concerned with approving the necessary budget and resources) an idea of what’s in store. This document is known as a project brief, scope document or strategic outline case (SOC). Even if you have already been given approval to go ahead (sometimes called a project mandate), there are several reasons why putting together a SOC is important. These include:

1 Information. Ahead of a more detailed plan, it gives you a chance to inform your colleagues of what’s coming up (though this is no reason not to consider more informal means of communication, such as a staff newsletter).

2 Approval. If you haven’t yet received a mandate to carry out your project, presenting a ‘business case’ for your project is a necessary first step. This gives those responsible for approving the necessary expenditure the information they need in one compact document. Your SOC can be circulated in advance of a meeting, where you will have the chance to present your ideas and answer any questions.

3 Reassurance. By outlining what your project will and won’t deliver, and the resources required, a SOC may help allay fears or concerns that others have about your project. Of course, there is a chance that it may confirm them, so there is no guarantee it will avoid the need to answer awkward questions! But as a more reliable source of information than the ‘rumour mill’, it will at least ensure that these questions are relevant.

Your SOC doesn’t need to be a long essay, but should set out the main points. Include a paragraph or so on each of the following:

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