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Short Guide To Project Management: Chris Croft
Short Guide To Project Management: Chris Croft
Management
Chris Croft
List anything that the project depends on There should be a specification document
funding, decisions, and resources from the or Project Initiation Document, which
customer or from within the organization. is signed by the PM to say that they are
There should probably be a kick-off meet- happy and can achieve the task, and by
ing, where the Project Manager (PM), the the client to say that they will be happy
customer/client, and if necessary Sales/ with what has been promised. This protects
Commercial all discuss and agree the both the customer (from underdelivery)
above details. and the PM (from the client adding extra
At this meeting, or earlier, probe your cus- requirements, moving the goal posts, and
tomer for key driversare the time, cost, and complaining afterwards that it wasnt ex-
quality MUST-haves or just nice-to-haves. actly what they wanted).
Do this by asking why that date/budget, This PID should contain evidence like
what if we went late/over, and see if they lists of tasks, cost estimates, and a Gantt
are interested in trading, for example, more chart, but this is not extra work because
time for a higher specification. Knowing the youll have to do these anyway in order
key driver will be extremely useful when/ to know whether the project is possible
if the project gets into difficulties later. and then in order to carry it out.
Consider negotiating some contingency into The PID should also contain an assess-
the time, cost, and specification at this stage. ment of risks, in order to show the client
Negotiation means if possible getting the that you are aware of these, and that you
client to openthey should tell you how are working to minimize them, but also
much they can afford, when they need so that the client can sign to say that they
completion, and the ideal specification are prepared to live with this level of risk.
they would have. Successful completion of the project will
Negotiation also means knowing your require a suitable teamboth quantity and
walk-away point in advance. This is the quality. Team members could be formally
point (or points in terms of combinations invited and signed up, with an estimate of
of time quality and money) at which you how many days/weeks will be required
feel that the project cannot be done and and if they have a different line manager,
at which you will say Youll have to get he or she may need to sign up to letting
someone else if you are going to insist on them go for the full required time.
this specification because I cant do it and
Idont want to make promises Icant keep. List the Tasks
Be assertivedont be pushed into agree- Involve the team
ing anything that you feel is impossible Brainstorm a list of all of the tasks that
(or unlikely) to achieve just because thats might be involved in the project
an easy option or you want the client to Put the tasks in some sort of logical
be happy. In the end everyone will be diagramoften known as a Work Breakdown
less happy if you do thisincluding you! Structure
In order that the PM can have a strong
case to argue, and in order to have a plan
to agree and sign off, it will be necessary
to have done some planning before this
kick-off meeting. Therefore, steps 2 to 8
in this article will need to be done, at least
in brief, before step 1. They may have to
be revisited after step 1 is complete.
PMYS: Planning Makes You Stronger!