Project Management PRINCE2 method
This happened to be the third time that somebody asked me to write about project management / project planning in our newsletter (well, second time in the last six months). The first article, “Project Management: The Basics”, was more a call for thoughts on the basics, but here I’d like to spend some time going through what I think is the construction phase of any project; the planning, or technically, the project management process. As on a prince 2 Course Belfast qualification.
“The basics” works behind the scenes in the process, ensuring that everything is in order so that the ultimate goal (the deliverables) are likely to be successful and meet the needs of the stakeholders. First off, I think it’s important to understand what a project is, and not just one thing. A project is a collection of things that have to happen at the same time. There’s working out the time and resources; information and other needs and functions to contribute to the end result; and many other hooks that need to be pulled in.
Before any company can create a solid plan for its project, it needs to determine the purpose of the project, and identify and prioritize alternative solutions and projects that will deliver what is, or should be, on time. Working out the time and resource needs, along with the needs of the stakeholders; is the process and the first step in project management. After the project has developed a rough plan, it’s an even better idea to begin finding ways to measure and assess the quality of those actions against those wants.
At this point it’s critical to note that this will not work if there is no business-related need for the project, and that one does not begin a project to create a new product or service and not accomplish what needs to happen; unless it’s a product or service that is sure to create new business and revenue opportunities for the company. So, working in the business, if there is a need, new revenue opportunities, we need to have a way of measuring it, and measure it against an established time and resource framework we have defined.
One of the next tips I’d like to share is the process of scheduling the necessary work, along with establishing milestones and clearly documenting them, so that everyone can review the plan, develop the assigned tasks, and understand where they should be looking. It’s pretty simple, but some of you get it; there are a set of things that you need to assess and evaluate before you can even begin the project that is then an evaluation of the achievement of the deliverable; there are no black-box situations. Second, if you haven’t done it before, I’d suggest asking your team to do the same. That way, if prudent, they’ll beBuy StudiesonomimsyBenchmarking to their colleagues, and on that basis you’ll have a method to determine what they are working on and the kind of task they are working on now.
Another thing that is critical to understand is the very simple commitment to follow a clearly defined project management process & system, or if you plan on adopting an automated process, establish rules, policies, and routines, and start reporting the measurements during the project, it will hold you and your team accountable for the things that need to be done.
Two other ways and tactics I recommend you consider, when I was reviewing this article, is to accept the fact that every project starts with putting together a project management system, learning a project management system that works for and weeds outWorking In The Business stuff, followed by you personally observing what’s happening from a business perspective, choosing a well-defined project plan, and then developing a well-defined action plan that meets the needs of the stakeholders and mutual needs of the people involved. You can’t skip steps.
When you take the time to do all these things, and take this as the very essence of the project management process:what’s the point of hiring the people, making the investment in the wrong equipment, not assembling the right team, doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason? Or as I said earlier in this article, because it makes no difference; as a rule, getting all this under control will make a world of difference to you and your project on both a commercial and ethical basis.
So, if you do it right, you can save a lot of time, effort and money!
