1. Project Management Practices Vesa Tenhunen vesa.tenhunen@uef.fi University of Eastern Finland LUMA Centre 2013-10-02

2. 2 Contents 1. Introduction 2. Project Plan 3. Communication Practices 4. Customer Focus

3. 3 1. Introduction Project is a temporary endeavor under- taken to create a unique product or service To successfully carry out a project, some kind of project management is needed  planning  scheduling  communicating  monitoring ...

4. 4 1. Introduction IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS (do the right thing) + CONTROL PROCESS (do it in a right way) = PROJECT MANAGEMENT

5. 5 2. Project Plan Project plan is a written document defining  what are the project's objectives  what are the project's contents  how the project is carried out  what is the project's schedule  what resources the project needs  what are the project's costs

6. 6 2. Project Plan Some of the purposes of a project plan:  to act as a project manager's tool  to act as a reference for monitoring progress  to act as a means of communication (e.g. for the customer) Project plan is about the project, not about the product Project plan is a work in progress

7. 7 2. Project Plan The following items should be included in a project plan: 1. Change history 2. Introduction  project overview 3. References  contracts, legislation, other documents etc.

8. 8 2. Project Plan 4. Glossary 5. Results  work products, deliverables 6. Project phases  phases  milestones and their schedules  products created in each phase

9. 9 2. Project Plan 7. Work breakdown (describes each activity)  outcome  estimated outcome size  estimated workload  dependencies  schedule  responsibility

10. 10 2. Project Plan 8. Project organization  personnel (including customer's) 9. Budget  estimated costs  financial plan

11. 11 2. Project Plan 10. Work methods  practices, guidelines & standards  tools  method of approving work products  change management  quality management 11. Metrics  measuring the product and the process

12. 12 2. Project Plan 12. Quality goals 13. Procurement plan 14. Monitoring progress  methods  meetings  reporting and informing 15. Risk management 16. References to other plans

13. 13 3. Communication Practices Projects are managed by communication The goals of communication  to support the activities  to profile the work community  to inform about events  to tie people to the work community  to satisfy the individual needs of interaction

14. 14 3. Communication Practices The project manager has the biggest role in communication within the project  s/he is the only one knowing what is going on For an ordinary development project to succeed, it is crucial to define the communication between the supplier and the customer  create a separate communications plan

15. 15 3. Communication Practices Common methods of communication  meetings (with minutes)  telephone  e-mail  written announcements  written work orders  project diary  documents (project and other plans, instructions, records etc.)

16. 16 4. Customer Focus One of the critical success factors for software projects is the commitment of both customer and end users  regular meetings  using support groups The customer and the end users know best the aspects of application domain

17. 17 4. Customer Focus Customer focus is usually forgotten in later phases - after requirements and planning - of the project Customer must be kept up to date during the whole project according to communications plan

18. 18 The End Download a project plan template from http://cs.joensuu.fi/~vtenhu/pm/ Thank you!