Business - 10 Minute Guide to Project Management.pdf

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10 Minute Guide to Project Management
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Lesson 1. So You're Going to Manage a Project?
The Elements of a Project
Project Planning
Implementation
Control
Possible Project Players
Lesson 2. What Makes a Good Project Manager?
A Doer, not a Bystander
Many Hats All the Time
Principles To Steer You
Seven Ways to Succeed as a Project Manager
Seven Ways to Fail as a Project Manager
Lesson 3. What Do You Want to Accomplish?
To Lead and to Handle Crises
Key Questions
Okay, So What are We Attempting to Do?
Tasks Versus Outcomes
Telling Questions
Desired Outcomes that Lend Themselves to Project Management
Lesson 4. Laying Out Your Plan
No Surprises
The Holy Grail and the Golden Fleece
From Nothing to Something
Lesson 5. Assembling Your Plan
The Critical Path for Completing the WBS
The Chicken or the Egg?
Is Planning Itself a Task?
What About Your Hours?
Internal Resources Versus External Resources
Helping Your Staff When It's Over
What Kinds of Tasks Comprise the WBS?
Keeping the Big Picture in Mind
The Big Picture Versus Endless Minutia
From Planning to Monitoring
Lesson 6. Keeping Your Eye on the Budget
Money Still Doesn't Grow on Trees
Experience Pays
Traditional Approaches to Budgeting
Traditional Measures
Systematic Budgeting Problems
Lesson 7. Gantt Charts
Chart Your Progress
Variations on a Theme
Embellishments Offer Detail
Getting a Project Back on Track
Thinking Ahead
Lesson 8. PERT/CPM Charts
Projects Can Get Complex
Enter the PERT and CPM
A Short Course
What If Things Change?
I Feel the Need, the Need for Speed
Let's Network
Me and My Arrow
Don't Fall in Love with the Technology
Lesson 9. Reporting Results
More Communications Channels Lead to Less Accessibility
Incorporate the Thoughts of Others
Lesson 10. Choosing Project Management Software
With the Click of a Mouse
Leave a Good Thing Alone
Whose Choice Is It?
What's Your Pleasure?
Dedicated PM Software
How Will You Use PM Software?
Lesson 11. A Sampling of Popular Programs
Yesterday's News
Armed and Online
Lesson 12. Multiple Bosses, Multiple Projects, Multiple Headaches
Participating on More Than One Project at a Time
Complexity Happens
A Diffuse Pattern
A Tale of Two Offices
Extravagance is Not Necessary
Reporting to More Than One Boss at a Time
Workaholic For Hire
Lesson 13. A Construction Mini-Case
Helping Construction Site Managers to Be More Effective
Let's Assign It to a Project Manager
Arm Chair Analysis Versus Onsite Observation
Tower of Babel
Lesson 14. Learning from Your Experience
Life Is Learning, and so Are Projects
Master the Software
Keep Your Eyes Open
Preparing For the Next Project
A. Glossary
Glossary
B. Further Reading
Bibliography
Introduction
Suppose you are a rising star at work and the boss has given you your first assignment to head up
a project. Depending on the nature of the project and what kind of work you do, you might have to
engage in a variety of tasks that you haven't tackled before, such as assembling a team to
complete the project on time and on budget, mapping out a plan and monitoring your progress at
key steps along the way, using appropriate planning tools such as project management software
or wall charts, and keeping your team motivated and on target.
Perhaps you have managed projects before, but not recently. Or, you have been given a new kind
of project you are not familiar with, and you want to make sure you handle the job right. If so,
you've come to the right place. The 10 Minute Guide to Project Management gives you the
essence of what you need to know, in terms of successful project management from A to Z.
True to the series, each lesson can be read and absorbed in about 10 minutes. We cover crucial
aspects of project management including plotting out your path, drawing upon age-old and cutting-
edge supporting tools, expending your resources carefully, assembling a winning team, monitoring
your progress, adjusting course (if you have to), and learning from your experience so that you will
be even better at managing other projects in the future.
If you are like many professionals today, you are very busy! Your time is precious. When you're
handed a challenging assignment and need some direction, you need it in a hurry. And that is
precisely what the 10 Minute Guide to Project Management offers you, a quick reference
tool—divided into 18 crucial aspects of project management—that offers the basics. You will be
able to digest a lesson or two each morning if you choose, before everyone else gets to work.
Moreover, with this handy pocket guide, you are never more than a few pages away from homing
in on the precise information that you need.
So, let's get started on the path to effective project management.
 
Lesson 1. So You're Going to Manage a
Project?
In this lesson, you learn what a project is, essential skills for project managers, and what it takes to
be a good project manager.
The Elements of a Project
What exactly is a project? You hear the word used all the time at work, as well as at home. People
say, "I am going to add a deck in the backyard. It will be a real project." Or, "Our team's project is
to determine consumer preferences in our industry through the year 2010." Or, "I have a little
project I would like you to tackle. I think that you can be finished by this afternoon."
TIP
When you boil it all down, projects can be viewed as having four essential
elements: a specific timeframe, an orchestrated approach to co-dependent events,
a desired outcome, and unique characteristics.
Specific Timeframe
Projects are temporary undertakings. In this regard, they are different from ongoing programs that
obviously had a beginning, but may not have a desired end, at least for the foreseeable future.
Projects can last years or even decades, as in the case of public works programs, feeding the
world's hungry, or sending space crafts to other galaxies. But most of the projects that you face in
the work-a-day world will be somewhere in the range of hours to weeks, or possibly months, but
usually not years or decades. (Moreover, the scope of this book will be limited to projects of short
duration, say six months at the most, but usually shorter than that.)
A project begins when some person or group in authority authorizes its beginning. The initiating
party has the authority, the budget, and the resources to enable the project to come to fruition, or
as Captain Jean Luc Packard of the Starship Enterprise often said, "Make it so." By definition,
every project initiated is engaged for a precise period, although those charged with achieving the
project's goals often feel as if the project were going on forever. When project goals are completed
(the subject of discussion below), a project ends and, invariably, something else takes its place.
TIP
Much of the effort of the people on a project, and certainly the use of resources,
including funds, are directed toward ensuring that the project is designed to
achieve the desired outcome and be completed as scheduled in an appropriate
manner.
 

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