Project Governance: Avoiding “Administrivia” Lisa Kosanovich Project Manager Center for Instructional Design Brigham Young University

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Brain Development

“Administrivia”- “Who is the Boss?” Design problems are being resolved in a vacuum Complete project status and issues do not reside with one person or in a collective whole Project Plans need “revamping” on a regular basis to clarify when the project will finish and what ‘really’ remains to be done, few know when their work should be done reactive approach to problems that arise

Project Governance- proactive approach to projects TEAM: Define Team Roles and their functions SCOPE: Change Management and a Scope Steward COMMUNICATION: Communication Framework SCHEDULE: Scheduling Tools and Principles

Managing by project governance

Team No one is the “boss” Everyone has a key role to contribute throughout the life of the project Example: –Designer: steward of the scope for the project, technical design and resolution –Sponsor: Define what is needed, make decisions on behalf of the user –Production Staff: Provide technical solutions, build product –Project Manager: steward over project information

Scope Size*SmallMediumLarge What type(e.g. Spelling corrections, unseen changes) (e.g. features of graphics (e.g. Any change that increases the schedule of budget by 10%) Who is involvedIndividual Team member Sponsor and Entire Team Team, Sponsor, Director of Organization Change** Matrix *Consultation with the ‘steward of the scope’ will clarify what size a requested change is. **Changes should be based on a constraint matrix

Scope Constraint/Flexibility Matrix LeastModerateMost Scope√ Schedule√ Resources√ Directs change decisions that are made, in an attempt to protect that which is most constrained

Communication Team listserv, alias, or group Weekly Team Meetings: –Brainstorming –Consensus gathering –Changes that need negotiation –Issues that will require more than one conversation within the team –Almost NEVER for status

Schedule Define tasks at the level where issues occur and status is most meaningful Do not plan past your next point of knowledge Use the best tool for the job –Waterfall vs. iterative –Task driven vs. date driven –Checklist vs. Schedule

Schedule Date Driven: –Biweekly meetings during design phase of a project –Schedule is most constrained therefore dates will be drawn out by which to achieve certain features –Decisions need to be made even though research or work may not yet be complete Task Driven: –Scope is most constrained therefore work will continue until all features are achieved –Many resources or outside vendors are involved, requiring coordination of deliverables –Many dependencies exist within the project requiring coordination for timely completion

Schedule Checklist

Brain Development Today

Managing by project governance

Questions? Lisa Kosanovich Brigham Young University