Project Project Management - 101Management - 101

Tools & TechniquesTools & Techniques

forfor

Project CoordinatorsProject Coordinators

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Introductions & Expectations

Steven J. Chihos, PMP

theBigRocks, LLC

… and our expectations:

Pat Yankowich, PMP

Sirius PM, LLC

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…here’s the pitch:

This Workshop is designed to help you apply basic rigor to defining &

managing your “projects”.

… It’s NOT to “certify” you as a Project Manager

We’ll introduce basic project management terms, processes &

techniques so Project Coordinators can use them to improve the results of your

project-based work.

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It’s hard to manage or measure the results of something you can’t

describe.

Housekeeping

• Silence cell phones• Take emergency calls outside• No multi-tasking (email, office work,

video games, etc.)

• No sidebars• Full Attendance = Full Credit• Fully participate• Ask questions as we go• Breaks as needed + Lunch provided• Parking Lot + Buzzwords

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Exercise:

JugglingYour

Regular Work

AB

Step

1

Exercise:

JugglingAdditional

Work

Step

2

AB

Exercise:

Jugglingthe Work of a Team

Step

3

AB

Exercise:

Jugglingit all

in Real TimeStep

4

AB

What Can We Learn?

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• The role of “Project The role of “Project Coordinator” may or may Coordinator” may or may not be a natural fit for not be a natural fit for everyone.everyone.

• Projects almost always Projects almost always involve “additional duty”.involve “additional duty”.

• Regular work doesn’t Regular work doesn’t typically take a holiday typically take a holiday just because you are just because you are asked to coordinate a asked to coordinate a project.project.

• The best way to improve The best way to improve this skill is through this skill is through practice. practice.

Overview

theBigRocks of Project Management

theBigRocks of Project Management ©

&“Can We? - Should We? - Will We? - Are We? - Did We?”©

&theBigRocks of Change©

and the other intellectual property herein is© 2006-2013 Steven J. Chihos and theBigRocks, LLC

All Rights Reserved - Please do not copy.

CanCanWe?We?

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ShouldShould

We?We?©WillWill

We?We?©

AreAreWe?We?

©DidDidWe?We?

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Buzzword Check: “Project”

What makes something a project?

A Formal Definition: “A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined

beginning and end (usually time-constrained, and often constrained by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value.”

…OBTW: Let’s collect buzzwords as we go…

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Your Project

List a “project” you are (or will be) a part of:

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We’ll use your project to put each PM concept into context.

Discuss: “All projects are work. – But not all work is a project.”

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Project Manager & Project Coordinator

What makes someone a “project manager”?- Anyone with overall responsibility for coordinating a

project

What do “project managers” actually do?

What’s the difference between a PM & a Project Coordinator? CanCan

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PMI & PMBOK• PMI: The Project Management Institute is a

global organization that addresses the need for project management and the needs of professional project managers.

• PMP – “Project Management Professional” is the world’s most widely-recognized PM credential.

• PMBOK – The “PM Body of Knowledge” is considered a standard for project management best practices and universal PM processes. It is regularly updated and serves as the basis for PMP credential testing.

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The PMBOK Process

Initiate

Close

Control

Plan

Execute

Once

1 or moreiterations

Once

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• Initiate– Establish project goals, limits &

commitments. • Plan

– Formally account for project scope, activities, budget, resources, schedules & milestones.

• Execute– Lead the team through the project

lifecycle.• Control

– Monitor performance & adjust as needed.• Close

– Formally measure project results, release resources and end the project

The PMBOK Process

This workshop is based on

PMBOK Concepts

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Mapping to the PMBOK

CanCanWe?We?

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ShouldShould

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Initiate Plan Execute Close

This workshop will reference many PMBOK

Concepts

Control

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Many concepts refer to the PM role –

Coordinators will do less of this “up front”

documentation

theBigRocks of Project Management©

1. Project Charter/Summary

2. Scope, Goals & Objectives

3. Alignment

4. Risk & Issue Management

5. Documented Project Plans

6. Project Communication

7. Activity Management

8. Track & Control

9. Change Management

10. Verifying Results18

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“Plan the Work” “Work the Plan”

AM PM

Big Rock #1: Project Charter/Summary

A Project Charter or Summary is a high-level document created before a project is fully engaged that answers several fundamental questions.

A charter is not a plan. (…yet)

But the answers provided in the charter or project summary drive the planning, staffing, scheduling and execution of detailed project activities.

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8 Clarifying QuestionsAnswers: (in Project Management

Terms)

1. What?

2. What Not?

4. How?

5. Who?

6. Where?

7. When?8. With

What?

Scope, Goals, Objectives, Success Measures

Priorities, Out-of-Scope Boundaries

Rationale, Business Case, ROI, Motivation

Resources & Budgets

Schedule, Milestones

Locations, Organizational Scope

People, Team Structures, Relationships

Processes, Methods and Techniques

3. Why?

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Charter Starter Exercise

What will your project accomplish?What?What

Not?

How?

Who?

Why?

Provide your initial answers to these questions:

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What’s “out of scope”?

What’s the rationale?

Describe the overall approach

you’ll take.What roles need to be established?

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A.R.C.I. Model for Team Involvement

– Accountable

– Responsible

– Consulted

– InformedII

AA

R

CC

“The buck stops here”

“Worker - The Doer”

“Involved – Has Input”

“Aware - Kept in the picture”

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Charter Starter Exercise

What will your project accomplish?What?What

Not?

How?

Who?

Where?

When?With What?

Why?

Provide your initial answers to these questions:

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What’s “out of scope”?

What’s the rationale?

Describe the overall approach

you’ll take.What roles need to be established?

What locations/departments will be

impacted?Provide a rough schedule for the

work.What resources will be critical?

Big Rock #2: Clear Goals & Objectives

Can this goal/objective be measured?

How can we quantify results?

Who should measure it? Consider counts, ratios, trends, increase/decrease, %’s, etc.

What metrics will operational management expect us to measure?

What organizational objectives and performance measures will this support?

What’s important to the customers?

Can we measure “as we go” or must we wait until it’s all done to measure?

Exercise: list 2 measureable

objectives for your project.

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Be SMART: Define your objectives to be: Specific, Measureable, Actionable, Realistic & Time-Based

Clear, documented Goals & Objectives will keep the project focused on results.

Big Rock #3: Alignment• “Get on the same page”

– Fit to Strategy & Clear expected outcomes– Congruence of goals and priorities– Shared expectations = “reduced drag ”

• What happens if we are not aligned on the items below?

– Scope (In and Out)– Time Expectation– Desired Outcomes– Responsibility– Resources

– Rationale / ”Business Case”– Delivery Processes– Structure and Roles– Success Criteria– Scope Management Process

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Alignment: Involve Key Roles

Exercise: List some

people who need to be

aligned regarding your

project.

• Sponsor(s)• Project Coordinator / PM• Process Owners• Staff• External vendors• Internal support staff• Customers• Peer Stakeholders• Think: “Up – Out –

Down”

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Exercise

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Big Rock #4 Assess Risks & Issues

Establish a baseline of risks and issues that need to be accounted for as the project unfolds:

1. Brainstorm the biggest challenges and current issues your project will face:

2. Use the SWOT method to consider things that work in your favor and things that work against your chances of success. Consider things that you can control and things you cannot.

3. Document your risks and issues at the start of the project.

• Track risks and issues as you address them… (not all need action, some cannot be ignored) … add new ones as needed.

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Exercise: Identify Project Risks

ShouldShould

We?We?©List a few risks your project will need to account for. 29

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Strengths Weaknesses

What positive characteristics, resources, or

capabilities do we have that can be

leveraged to achieve our goals?

What weaknesses do we have as a team that

need to be addressed in order to be successful?

Opportunities

Threats

What opportunities exist beyond our walls that

could be taken advantage of as we strive to reach our

goals?

What threats exist that are beyond our control

that need to be accounted for as we pursue our goals?

Use techniques

like brainstorming

and the SWOT

technique to uncover risks.

Tracking Risks & Issues

• PM’s use detailed tools like websites and tables to track risks.

• Coordinators should check with their Sponsor(s) to verify what level of risk tracking & reporting is needed.

• A good general approach to take is to:– Consider the potential impact and likelihood of the risk/issue.– Identify potential avoidance/mitigation plans.– Report the status of high priority risks as a part of your

regular status reporting process. (dashboard, agendas, etc.)

ID # Risk/Issue Severity of Impact

Likelihood Owner Status Notes

1 Hardware is late High Low Bob Monitoring Contract signed 7/2/11

2 Data is not clean enough for export

Med High Mary Plan in Place Blah, blah

3 etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

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Exercise Time!

• Put your puzzle together as a team.

• No talking!!!

• You have 5 minutes.

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So What Did We Learn?

• Does it help to have a plan?

• How does communication impact your success?

• Does it help to have “all the pieces?”

• What if someone hands you a few “extra pieces”?

• What if you’re handed pieces of someone else’s puzzle?

• What other challenges did you have?WillWill

We?We?©

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Big Rock #5: Project Planning

What is it?Project planning, work breakdown, scope

management, “critical path”, resource leveling… and a lot more buzzwords you will soon have decoded

How do we do it?Work with your team using simple versions of some

classic Project Management techniques to create your plan.

Why is it needed?The more up-front involvement you have in setting

expectations, and the more discipline you apply, the better your chances of creating a realistic plan that the team can deliver to.

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Define & Document an Overall Project Plan

a. Brainstorm activities, deliverables and outcomes.

b. Use a Work Breakdown Structure to decompose the work.

c. Estimate how long each activity should take.

d. Sequence the activities where it makes sense.

e. Add resources and “level” the plan.

f. Look for a “critical path”.

g. Optimize the schedule by shifting activities and resources.

h. Review the project plan & Gantt Chart with stakeholders.

i. Prepare to track your actual progress -v- the plan

j. Adjust your plan as reality unfolds.

Estimate

Sequence

Resources

Critical Path

Optimize

Review

Track

Adjust

WBS

Brainstorm

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5a - Brainstorm• Identify the broad areas of work that will be

needed to achieve the desired project results• Consider:

– Obvious activities– Deliverables that need to be created– Risks that need to be mitigated or avoided– Constraints that need to be handled

• Options for brainstorming work:– Functional– Geographical– Process– Other?

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Exercise: Exercise: Brainstorm a Brainstorm a few activities few activities

for your for your project.project.

5b - Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Break the big chunks into a hierarchy of smaller work activities

• WBS = an initial, formal definition of activities needed to deliver the scope – so we can manage it and deal with scope changes if necessary.

• Key: define everything in terms of work and activities. Think in terms of:– Work: Use verbs. – Size: How big or complex is that activity? – Resources: Who might do the work?– Deliverables/Outcomes: How will we measure success?– Flow: What might be done sequentially or concurrently?

* Pick a “big” activity from your project & break it down. *

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Estimate This!• I’ll list 5 activities & you estimate how long it would

take to do each one – then we’ll compare results:– Put the kids to bed– Drive to Joplin, MO– Unload the dishwasher– Pay off a house– Get ready for work

• Debrief:– 2 forms of measuring “accuracy” when estimating:

discrete amount of deviation and deviation as a %.– How critical is it that we agree on the definition of the

activity itself when we estimate? That’s the risk of assumption!

– How much better were estimates with input?

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5c - Estimate• What to estimate

– Elapsed time (duration)– Effort (by a person or team)

• How to estimate:– Analogous (past experience with similar work)– Parametric (inventory-based)– Delphi Technique (multiple opinions)– PERT: Average of (Best Case + Worst Case +

Most Likely)

• A good rule of thumb is to use “days” as the unit of effort – then account for part-time roles by adjusting durations.

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Exercise: Pick a few items from your WBS & estimate their effort and duration. 38

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De-Brief:Did we miss any steps? Do we need all these steps?

Can anything be done “in parallel”?Can we speed up this sequence?

Exercise: Sequence This!

A. Butter the bagel.B. Eat the bagel!C. Take out the trash.D. Enjoy the aroma as it

toasts.E. Read the newspaper.F. Pour a glass of milk or

juice.G. Get bagel from cupboard.H. Get out the toaster.I. Add jelly or cream cheese.J. Cut the bagel in half.K. Get a plate.

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5d - Sequence

• Once all activities are discovered and independently estimated, sequencing involves stringing them together into a flow – or multiple flows - based on a necessary logical order of execution.

• This graphical representation of the activity flow is called a “network diagram”.

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Sequencing Your Real Life Example

• String together your activities & sub-activities– Make note of dependencies & potential

milestones– Watch for “predecessors” & “successors”– Consider “finish-to-start” relationships &

others– Make note to independent activities &

potentially parallel workflows – you may have as many or as few flows as you think makes sense.

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5e - Resources• Resource Balancing

– How much work does a given resource have “loaded” in a given period of time?

– What can be done to “spread the load”?

– Review the sequence of activities & spread out durations as needed to level the effort load.

– Consider physical resources as well – especially timing & availability constraints.

• Human Resources– Roles: Who does what– Skills inventory– “Bandwidth”

• Physical Resources– Money – Equipment– Space/Facilities– Materials/Supplies– Connectivity/Systems– Information/Access– What else?

* Identify some of the resources you will need on your project. *

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5f - Critical Path• A resource-leveled sequence of

dependent activities can only be accomplished as quickly as the longest route through the network diagram will allow.

• This route is called the “critical path”.

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Example: Critical Path

Start Finish

Activity A (14)

Activity B (5)

Activity C (2)

Activity D (13)

Activity E (12)

Activity F (11)

Activity G (21)

Activity Path Total DurationA -> B -> C 21 A -> D -> E 39 * Critical PathF -> D -> E 36F -> G 32

Activity B starting up to 18 days late has no effect on the finish date

Can you see the “critical path” on this project?Can you see it on your project? Why is it important?

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5g - Optimize

How can we shorten the critical path and complete your project sooner?

1.Add Resources: Consider adding resources to activities on the critical path. 2.Raise Productivity: (aka: “work smarter”) Look for ways to shorten the duration of some critical path activities through the use of enhanced techniques or productivity tools.3.Overtime: (aka: “work harder”) Extend the effort expected per day/week from resources working on critical path activities.

Discussion: What factors may limit the effectiveness of each approach?

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• Project Coordinators: Discuss with your Sponsor how they’d like you to document your project schedule.

• Verify the documented schedule with key stakeholders before committing to dates and deliverables.

• PM’s use a Gantt chart to show activities as bars on a calendar with “milestones”. You might use a list, a calendar, spreadsheet, etc.

Sharing the ScheduleStart

End

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5h - Review• What?

– Schedules– Resource

commitments– Milestones– Deliverable/Outcome

expectations

• When?– Full review just prior

to project launch.– Have key contributors

review drafts or portions of the plan earlier.

• Who?– Sponsors– Team members – Key stakeholders

with responsibilities or expectations for deliverables & outcomes

• How?– Walk-through– Individual or small

groups– Consider iterative

reviews

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* List a few people who should review your project plan. *

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5i – Plan to Track• What will your Sponsor want you to track?

– Progress -v- Schedule – Resource levels and overload/availability for key

people– Milestone achievements– Risks and issues (what’s the difference?)

• How & When will your Sponsor want updates?– Common practice: Weekly cycle of status reporting

within the team and bi-weekly or monthly summary with Sponsors

– Discuss how to communicate situations where you might need the Sponsor’s help. (aka: “escalations”)

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Use the Triple Constraint to Adjust

• Lever-1: Cost– Add or move resources.

• Lever-2: Schedule– Change dates for expected

completion of milestones/activities.

• Lever-3: Scope & Quality – Adjust expectations for

Scope or Quality of Deliverables.

* Consider how much flexibility you will have in these 3 areas. *

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Exercise:

JugglingAdditional

Work

Step

2

AB

Morning Wrap-Up• This Morning:

– “Plan the Work”

• Plus/Delta– What worked well?– What can we do to improve?

• This Afternoon: – “Work the Plan”

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