Month: September 2022

The Project Management Plan – Scope Management

Professor of Project Management Project Planning ,
Planning

The Project Management Plan defines how the project is executed, monitored, controlled and closed. The first component of the Project Management Plan is the Scope Management Plan.

The Scope Management Plan addresses the following:

• Defines how the Scope of Work will be created. This includes a roles/responsibilities matrix (who will create the scope, who will contribute to the scope, who will approve the scope)

• Defines what the Scope of Work will contain (Scope exclusions, process and physical scope, organizational scope, application scope, deliverables, Work Breakdown Structure aka WBS)

• Defines what constitutes the baseline Scope for change management purposes. This is not the actual Scope, it is the sources of Scope (e.g. “The deliverables as listed in section x of document z and the approved WBS”)

• Includes a plan for change management: How change is requested, authorized, and documented

• Describes the process for getting approval for completed deliverables

• References the Project Charter for the priority of Scope in the triple constraints

My Kindle book, “Project Management For The Real World”, is available at

http://www.amazon.com/dp/b089krddvn

Now available in paperback!

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The Project Management Plan – Overview

Professor of Project Management Project Planning ,
Planning

There are two main types of high level planning for a project: (1) The Project Management Plan; (2) The Project Activity Plan (aka The Project Plan). The Project Management Plan describes the approach and processes for managing the project. The Project Activity Plan describes the work to be done to achieve the project objectives. This series of posts address the Project Management Plan.

The Project Management Plan defines how the project is executed, monitored, controlled and closed. It addresses the management of scope, schedule, cost, quality, staffing, communications, risk, and procurement. Whenever matters of project procedure are in question, this document shall be the first source consulted.

This is a dynamic document and reflects the current thinking regarding the project approach based on what is known at this time. It is expected to be updated with new information as the project unfolds. Original and revised versions should be distributed to the entire project team.

The components of the Project Management Plan are:

  • Scope Management
  • Schedule Management
  • Budget Management
  • Staff Management
  • Communications Management
  • Risk Management
  • Procurement Management
  • Project Close Definition
  • Post-Project Audit Plan

In subsequent posts I will elaborate on each of these sections.

For large projects I highly recommend creating a Project Management Plan and sharing it with your sponsor and key stakeholders. This plan describes the “rules of engagement” for the project and will minimize assumptions and misunderstandings regarding project process. I have also found this to be very helpful if you are new to an organization. It is a way to document your understanding of the project management practices of that organization.

There is a good reason the Project Management Institute (PMI) includes these plans in their best practices. Once I obtained my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification, I included a formal Project Management Plan on all of my large projects.

My Kindle book, “Project Management For The Real World”, is available at

http://www.amazon.com/dp/b089krddvn

Now available in paperback!

The Project Charter – Sign Off

Professor of Project Management Project Initiation
Initiation

The Project Charter can be looked at as a contract between you and your project sponsor or you and your manager. It documents your understanding of the expectations of the sponsor and what you are expected to deliver and when. Like any contract, it should be concluded with a signature indicating agreement.

Why get a real signature? It is amazing how people will pay close attention to what is in a document when they have to sign their name to it! I have seen cases on my own projects as well as those I consulted on where misunderstandings are cleared up prior to charter sign off. This has and will save many hours of effort avoiding taking a project down the wrong path. For these reasons I highly recommend getting a real signature and posting a PDF image of the Project Charter in the project repository.

Once you have a signed-off charter, you now have one of the deliverables subject to formal Change Management. Any request that would change any component of the charter should have a formal change benefit/impact statement signed off and the Project Charter should be changed to a new version and signed off again.

In my next post we will move to the Planning Phase and begin a multi-part discussion on the Project Management Plan.

My Kindle book, “Project Management For The Real World”, is available at

http://www.amazon.com/dp/b089krddvn

Now available in paperback!

Kick The Field Goal! What American Football Can Teach Us About Project Management

Professor of Project Management General

With the NFL season about to begin I thought I would share a project management lesson I learned many years ago from, oddly enough, watching an NFL telecast. The color analyst was the legendary John Madden.

Team A was trailing Team B 21-0 but it was still early (mid second quarter). They were confronted with a 4th down and goal to go situation from the 5 yard line. Fans of Team A, concerned with the large deficit, were no doubt screaming for their team to go for the touchdown. This is when Madden made the point that resonated with me from a project management perspective:

“I would kick the field goal here. The longer you are at 0 points, the harder it becomes to move off of 0. Once you have points you have something to build on.”

There are those in the modern sports analytics field who might argue this but that is not the point of this post. Madden’s comment made me realize that the longer a project goes without delivering business value (known as the “Business Objectives” of the project), the harder it gets to deliver them. Some of the main reasons for this are:

  1. Business or IT Management and Stakeholders continue to propose grand ideas which significantly increase the scope without going through formal Scope Change Management.
  2. The Project lacks a Charter or Definition with sufficient detail, making “scope creep” hard to define.
  3. The Project is trying to deliver the Project Objectives all at once instead of a phased approach which can deliver some business value earlier.

I recommend having well defined Business and Project Objectives. Manage Scope jealously. Deliver at least some of the Business Value as early as possible and in phases.

The longer a project drags on without delivering something, the harder it gets to deliver anything. So”Kick the Field Goal”. Get off of “zero” as soon as possible. Your business and project (and your career) will be the better for it.

A reminder that my Kindle book “Project Management For The Real World” is available at

http://www.amazon.com/dp/b089krddvn

Now available in paperback!

The Project Charter – Constraints

Professor of Project Management Project Initiation ,
Initiation

Constraints are any limitations to solution options that have been imposed on a project. It is important to know these early on so time is not wasted pursuing these options. Here are some examples:

  • The solution must work with Microsoft Edge as that is the company standard
  • The solution must be an Oracle product for seamless integration with our other Enterprise systems
  • The new department we are adding as a result of this project must fit into this 30′ x 50′ area

When project constraints are uncovered, be sure to understand the reason why. It is possible some constraints could be removed. I was involved with a project where the service provider was already selected but without looking at the competition. I convinced my business partners to conduct formal “Request for Proposal’s” with the leading competition and the result was a different provider was selected.

Constraints are included in the Project Charter so that the Sponsor and Core Project Team understand and agree.

My Kindle Book, “Project Management For The Real World”, is available at

http://www.amazon.com/do/b089krddvn

Now available in paperback!