Tips and Tricks for managing youR Perkins Non-traditional Mini-grant Project Management 101 Tips and Tricks for managing youR Perkins Non-traditional Mini-grant Jen Jasinowski

Why Projects Fail? The Devil is in the Detail “There was a tendency in the projects to focus too much on deadlines and perform target-led planning approaches. By being concerned only with a point that lies far into the future, the project members felt that there was plenty of time to do the work… Consequently, the project activities delayed and took longer than anticipated.” “Observations of the projects show us that the project management teams did a good job in the upfront planning process, but then were not able to manage the projects effectively from that point on. This included problems managing scope change, resolving issues, communicating proactively and managing risks. One explanation for this setback lies in the fact that even though in many projects the roles and responsibilities of the project teams were clear, their decision authority was often limited due to the level of the influence and power of the project members.”

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Decomposition = breaking down deliverables into smaller, more manageable components of work The benefits are: Easier to generate estimates Easier to assign controls and performance measures Provides a baseline for the project

WBS- How do I do this???? Identify deliverables and work Organizing project work (major deliverables/subprojects, outsourced projects, project phase) Define components to smallest unit level (work package level)- assignable to work team or person (no more than 80 hours) Assign identification codes (code of accounts) Verify for completeness and clarity

WBS Inputs & Outputs Organizational process assets Project scope statement Project scope management plan Communication Management Approved changed requests Project scope updates Work breakdown structure WBS dictionary= detailed contact list Scope baseline Project scope management plan updates Requested changes

WBS Dictionary Code of accounts identifiers Statement of Work Person responsible for completion List of schedule milestones Contract information Quality requirements Technical references that assist responsible party with defining performance of work

WBS Sample

Create a WBS and Use the FORCE!

Communication Success Project Sponsor is key to success! Communications Planning PMP definition: Involves determining the communication needs of the stakeholders by defining the types of information needed, the format for communicating the information, how often it is distributed and who prepares it!

What’s on my Communication Plan? Name of item to be communicated Purpose of communication Frequency of communication Time frame for distribution, including starting and ending dates Format of the communication and method of transmission Person responsible for distributing the information

Planning Inputs Enterprise environmental factors- Are you encouraged to have distributed rather than centralized updates? Can you use online tools and make this an open process? Organizational process assets- Do you have shared access drives? Project scope statement- everyone should have a copy, but are there other ways you can communicate you project to others inside and outside your college? Constraints and assumption elements of the project management plan—make sure you do a quick communications analysis….

Communication requirements analysis Institution/department organizational charts Stakeholder relationships- Are there other partner organizations that are better at communication with outside parties? Other departments/businesses involved in the project- how are you going to make sure that you are communicating with them, do they have regular meetings you can provide updates or request feedback? Number of resources involved in project and where they are located in relation to project activities External needs that organizations such as media, government, or industry groups might have that require communication updates—Any calendar considerations? Stakeholder Information

Sample Communication Plan

  Lines of Communication Formula = (n)(n-1)/2, where n is number of participants

More Project Management Resources Check out Bright Hub at www.brighthub.com for lots of tips on creating a WBS using Excel!

Free PM Software from www.Softwareprojects.org Free desktop software for project management This type of applications are installed on your PC. Think in the line of MS Office and MSProject. A nice free software package in this category is GanttProject. This actually looks like an MS Project knock off. Web-based services By this I mean websites that offer an on-line internet application that supports project management. You don't have to install anything, you just signup for a service that is running on someone else's server. An example is iTeamWork, which is kind of a collaboration tool, where you can define projects and tasks, assign people to them, track and trace them, view to-do lists, etc. Web-based systems The difference between web-based services and systems is that with the latter you do have to install software on your own hardware. As open source development is taking more and more ground, some of these applications are quite powerful. The are all more collaboration tools the just plain project management tools. So, if you just need something to create a nice Gantt chart, don't use this category, as it would be overkill. Examples in this category are: dotProject dotProject is a PHP web-based project management framework that includes modules for companies, projects, tasks (with Gantt charts), forums, files, calendar, contacts, tickets/helpdesk, multi-language support, user/module permissions and themes. php-collab phpCollab is an open-source internet-enabled collaboration workspace for project teams. phProjekt PHProjekt is a modular application for the coordination of group activities and to share information and documents via intranet and internet. Components of PHProjekt: Group calendar, project management, time card system, file management, contact manager, mail client and 9 other modules … Consultant Communicator Consultant Communicator is focused upon the time keeping aspect of project management. Unlike the majority of other tools, it does not use a graphical task time line, it instead uses a hierarchal system. f2w Helpdesk f2w Helpdesk isn't actually a pure project management tool; it was actually developed to be a help desk solution. However, it can also be used to manage people. Taskjuggler Taskjuggler calls itself a "Project Managers Delight" and to be fair, they're not far from the truth. TeamSCOPE TeamSCOPE is developed by a team at the Michigan State University. It is designed to run on Linux. It was designed and developed with communication in mind and as such it focuses on giving every member of the team access to all the files, deadlines and information. Relevant links Agile Or Plan-Driven Project Management: One Size Doesn't Fit All Web Timesheet Software Directory. Web-based software for time tracking, payroll, billing, expense, cost and invoicing. Standard Time – Timesheet and Project Management Software