Essential Project Manager Toolkit

From previous posts we know there are many facets of project management and many lessons to be learned from both troubled projects and successful projects, yet there is an essential set of tangible tools that any project manager needs to have to best manage any project.

Let’s see what these essential tools are and why they are important.

Project Charter– Authorises project and the project manager and provides official notice to the organisation.

Project definition document– Defines project purpose, objectives, success criteria and scope. Its important for managing expectations, controlling scope and completing other planning efforts.

Requirements– Defines specifications for the product/output of the project. It is important for managing expectations and controlling scope.

Project schedule – Shows all work efforts properly estimated, with logical dependencies, assigned to responsible resources scheduled against a calendar. This is key for directing all project team work effort; for managing expectations. It allows for impact and what-if situations when things change.

Status report – Periodic reviews of actual performance versus expected performance. It provides essential information to stakeholders and allows for timely identification of performance variances.

Milestone chart – A summary of the detailed project schedule showing progress against key milestones. It allows stakeholders to see high level project progress on a single page.

Project organisation chart – This shows all stakeholders and working relationships among them. It allows team members to have a better understanding of the project roles and the organisational dynamics.

Responsibility matrix – Defines all project roles and indicates what responsibilities each role has. It is important for managing expectations and establishes accountability.

Communication plan – Defines the how, what, when and who regarding the flow of project information to stakeholders. It is important for managing expectations and establishes buy in.

Quality management plan – Defines the approaches and methods that will be utilised to manage the quality levels of project processes and results. It is important for managing expectations regarding quality, performance and regulatory compliance matters. It impacts work efforts and project schedule and establishes accountability.

Staffing management plan – Lists how project resources will be acquired when they are needed, how much they are needed and how long they’ll ne needed. This is key for building schedule and properly managing resources.

Risk response plan – Lists each identified risk and the planned response strategy for each risk. It communicates potential issues in advance and its proactive measures help reduce impact to project.

Project plan – It is a formal approved document that is used to manage project execution. It includes all other supplemental planning documents and output of project planning.

Deliverable summary – Defines and lists all deliverable to be produced by the project. It helps in managing expectations, ensures proper visibility, tracking and reporting of targeted deliverable.

Project log – captures essential information for each project risk, issue, action item and change request. It ensures proper visibility, tracking and reporting of items impacting the project.

Change request form – Captures essential information for any requested change that impacts scope, schedule or budget. It allows change item to be properly assessed and communicated before action is taken.

Project repository – The location where all pertinent project information is stored. It is important as it manages project information. The project team knows where to find current project documents.

Project notebook – Used by the project manager to maintain official record of the important project documents and deliverable. Thus, this is a part of managing project information.

The important principles to remember regarding project management tools are as follows:

• Any planning document needs to be reviewed and agreed to by appropriate project stakeholders and team members.

• Separate documents are not always needed. Smaller projects might combine relevant information (especially “plan” documents) into a single “grouped” document.

• The essential tools represent the key information and thought processes that are needed to effectively manage the project.

Here I am ending this post where we discussed the essential project management tools and their importance. The next post will focus on Project planning. Till we meet next keep reviewing and exploring this world of Project Management.

A Successful or troubled Project

It seems to be straightforward to describe the attributes of a successful project but in reality, it isn’t.

The few possible reasons are:

• There is a lack of universal harmony of what comprises project success metrics. It seems that every project management educational source and organisational process maturity standard has a slightly different definition of project success.

• For many projects, the acceptance and success criteria are never established or agreed to by all key stakeholders

• In many cases, an organisation might define a project as successful even when some of the textbook criteria for project success (such as schedule,cost, and client expectations) are not completely met. This is often the case if the project achieved strategic business or organisational objectives.

• In other cases, a “cancelled” project might be a “successful” project if there was a plan for one or more “go/no-go” decision points.

Now the million-dollar question How can we define a successful project?

From a utopian, academic standpoint, the “ultimate” successful project would be defined as a project that:

• Delivers as promised—Project produces all the stated deliverable.

• Completes on-time—Project completes within the approved schedule.

• Completes within budget—Project completes under the approved budget.

• Delivers quality—Project deliverable meet all functional, performance, and quality specifications.

• Achieves original purpose—The project achieves its original goals, objectives, and purpose.

• Meets all stakeholder expectations—The complete expectations of each key stakeholder is met, including all client acceptance criteria, and each key stakeholder accepts the project results without reservation.

• Maintains “win-win” relationships—The needs of the project are met with a “people focus” and do not require sacrificing the needs of individual team members or vendors. Participants on successful projects should be enthusiastic when the project is complete and eager to repeat a similar experience.

There are also “less-than-successful” projects often termed as troubled projects. The reasons for project troubles can be generally classified in two groups: project-level issues and organizational-level issues. One of the key differences in the two groups is the level of control that the project manager has over these factors. For project-level issues, the project manager has tremendous influence on these matters. In most cases, the project manager can either avoid the issue or act to resolve it if it does occur.

For organisational-level issues, the project manager cannot generally fix the problem, but the project manager can certainly have influence on them by asking the right questions, anticipating the associated risks and issues, focusing extra efforts to compensate for the issue, and developing contingency plans to minimise the impact on the project.

These issues are not exclusive, and, in most cases, there is overlap, and if you have one of these factors present in a project, you will generally have others. Thus, a good project manager can still end up managing a “troubled” project. Sometimes, your best project management work might be in minimizing the damage from a troubled project.

Although no two projects are ever the same, and every project has its own unique set of challenges, there is a common core of principles that successful projects share. By understanding these, a new project manager can better prioritize and better focus his project management efforts. These qualities are generally true about successful projects:

• Project is aligned with organizational goals.

• Project has effective management support.

• Project has effective leadership.

• All key stakeholders agree on the purpose, goals, and objectives of the project.

• All key stakeholders share a common vision on the project results.

• All key stakeholders share realistic expectations for the project results.

• The project results meet the expectations of the key stakeholders.

• Stakeholder expectations are constantly managed and validated throughout the project.

• There is an investment made in proper planning.

• The project scope, approach, and deliverables are clearly defined and agreed upon during planning.

• Each stakeholder and team member’s role(s) and responsibilities are clearly communicated and understood.

• A high priority is placed on accurate and complete work effort estimates.

• A realistic schedule is developed and agreed upon.

• The project team is results focused and customer-oriented.

• Requirements are effectively defined and properly managed.

• Project communications are consistent, effective, and focused on

understanding.

• Project progress is measured consistently from the current baseline.

• Project issues and subsequent action items are aggressively pursued.

• There is a strong sense of collaboration and teamwork.

• Expectations and changes surrounding scope, quality, schedule, and cost are closely managed.

• Project resources are skilled and available when needed.

• Project team proactively identifies risk and determines mitigation

strategies to reduce project exposure.

• Project team anticipates and overcomes obstacles to ensure project meets objectives.

Here I am ending this post and in the next post we’ll focus on essential set of tangible tools that any project manager needs to have to best manage any project. Till we meet next keep reviewing and exploring this world of Project Management.

Desired Key Skills of Project Managers

Although a broad range of skills is needed to effectively manage the people, process, and technical aspects of any project, it becomes clear there is a set of key skills that each project manager should have.

Although these skill categories are not necessarily exclusive of each other, let’s group them into five categories to streamline our review and discussion:

1. Project Management Fundamentals—The “science” part of project management, covered in this book, including office productivity suite (such as Microsoft Office, email, and so on) and project management software skills.

2. Business Management Skills—Those skills that would be equally valuable to an “operations” or “line-of-business” manager, such as budgeting, finance, procurement, organizational dynamics, team
development, performance management, coaching, and motivation.

3. Technical Knowledge—The knowledge gained from experience and competence in the focal area of the project. With it, you greatly increase your “effectiveness” as a project manager. You have more credibility, and you can ask better questions, validate the estimates and detail plans of team members, help solve technical issues, develop better solutions, and serve more of a leadership role.

4. Communication Skills—Because communication is regarded as the most important project management skill by the Project Management Institute (PMI), I feel it is important to separate these out. Skills included in this category include all written communication skills (correspondence, emails, documents), oral communication skills, facilitation skills, presentation skills, and—the most valuable—active listening. Active listening can be defined as “really listening” and the ability to listen with focus, empathy, and the desire to connect with the speaker.

5. Leadership Skills—This category overlaps with some of the others and focuses on the “attitude” and “mindset” required for project management. However, it also includes key skills such as interpersonal and general people skills, adaptability, flexibility, people management, degree of customer orientation, analytical skills, problem-solving skills, and the ability to keep the “big picture” in mind.

The specific combination of skills that are required for a project manager to be successful on a given project vary depending on the size and nature of the project. For example, as a general rule, on larger projects, technical knowledge is less important than competence in the other four skill categories.

One doesn't have to be outstanding in all the above mentioned categories to be successful as a project manager. The key is that the project manager has the right mix of skills to meet the needs of the given project. In addition, a self-assessment against these skill categories enables you to leverage your strengths, compensate for your deficiencies, and focus your self-improvement program.

Having the desired skill set is not only sufficient to be successful as a project manager and certain qualities are also required. These we'll discuss in the next post.

The Project Manager - One Title, Many Roles

A few common analogies to describe the role of project manager—the “captain” of the ship, the “conductor” of the orchestra, the “coach” of the team, the “catalyst” of the engine, and so on. There’s truth and insight in each of the analogies, but each can be incomplete as well. 

To gain better understanding of what a project manager does, let’s briefly discuss each of the key roles played by the project manager:

• Planner—Ensures that the project is defined properly and completely for success, all stakeholders are engaged, work effort approach is determined, required resources are available when needed, and processes are in place to properly execute and control the project.

• Organizer—Using work breakdown, estimating, and scheduling techniques, determines the complete work effort for the project, the proper sequence of the work activities, when the work will be accomplished, who will do the work, and how much the work will cost.

• Point Man—Serves as the central point-of-contact for all oral and written project communications.

• Quartermaster—Ensures the project has the resources, materials, and facilities its needs when it  needs it.

• Facilitator—Ensures that stakeholders and team members who come from different perspectives understand each other and work together to accomplish the project goals.

• Persuader—Gains agreement from the stakeholders on project definition, success criteria, and approach; manages stakeholder expectations throughout the project while managing the competing demands of time, cost, and quality; and gains agreement on resource decisions and issue resolution action steps.

• Problem Solver—Utilizes root-cause analysis process experience, prior project experiences, and technical knowledge to resolve unforeseen technical issues and to take any necessary corrective actions.

• Umbrella—Works to shield the project team from the politics and “noise” surrounding the project, so they can stay focused and productive.

• Coach—Determines and communicates the role each team member plays and the importance of that role to the project success, finds ways to motivate each team member, looks for ways to improve the skills of each team member, and provides constructive and timely feedback on individual performances.

• Bulldog—Performs the follow-up to ensure that commitments are maintained, issues are resolved, and action items are completed.

• Librarian—Manages all information, communications, and documentation involved in the project.

• Insurance Agent—Continuously works to identify risks and to develop responses to those risk events in advance.

• Police Officer—Consistently measures progress against the plan, develops corrective actions, reviews quality of both project processes and project deliverables.

• Salesman—An extension of the Persuader and Coach roles, but this role is focused on “selling” the benefits of the project to the organization, serving as a “change agent,” and inspiring team members to meet project goals and overcome project challenges.

There is consensus that the disciplines and techniques used in project management can be applied in any industry, there is no consensus on whether individual project managers can be effective in a different industry.

There is no doubt that the more knowledge and experience that a project manager has in the subject matter area of the project, the more value that he/she can offer. However, depending on the size of the initiative and the team composition, a project manager with different industry experience can bring tremendous value if that person is strong in the skill categories discussed in the next post.

Why Are Projects Challenging?

With the value that project management offers any organization, it is easy to understand why more and more industries are adopting project management as the way to do business. But projects aren't easy to manage and involves a lot of challenges. The key reasons why projects are challenging to manage are:

1. Uncharted territory—Each project is unique. The work to be done has likely never been done before by this group of people in this particular environment.

2. Multiple expectations—Each project has multiple stakeholders that each have their own needs and expectations for the project.

3. Communication obstacles—Due to natural organizational boundaries,communication channels, and team development stages, communication of project information must be proactively managed to ensure proper flow.

4. Balancing the competing demands—Every project is defined to produce one or more deliverables (scope) within a defined time period (time), under an approved budget (cost) with a specified set of resources. In addition, the deliverables must achieve a certain performance level (quality) and meet
the approval of the key stakeholders (expectations). Each of these factors can affect the others, as the figure below illustrates.




For example, if additional functionality (scope, quality) is desired, the time and cost (resources needed) of the project will increase. This is a key focus of an effective project manager.

5. Cutting edge—Often, projects have a strategic, innovative focus. As a result, they often deal with new, leading-edge technologies. In these cases, the project has more risks, more unknowns, and is much more difficult to estimate accurately.

6. Organizational impacts—In addition to overcoming natural communication obstacles created by the project structure, the project manager must also manage overlaps in organizational approval and
authority domains, contend with competing priorities for shared resources, deal with annual budget cycles that might not be aligned with the project’s funding needs, and ensure that the project is aligned with the focus of the organization.

7. Collaboration—Depending on the strategic level and scope of your project, your project team will consist of stakeholders across the organization from different functional areas that are likely not accustomed to working together. For project success, these different stakeholders must learn to work together and to understand the others’ perspectives to make the best decisions for the project. Often, the project manager plays a key facilitating role in this collaboration process.

8. Estimating the work—Estimating project work is difficult, yet the time and cost dimensions of the project are built upon these work effort estimates. Given the facts that the work of the project is often unique (never been done before at all, never been done with these tools, and never been done by these people), and most organizations do not maintain accurate historical records on previous projects (that might have similar work components), it is difficult to accurately estimate the effort for individual work items, not to mention the entire project. For the entire project, you need to anticipate the quantity and severity of the issues and obstacles that are likely to surface.

Thus a Project Manager plays an important role in any organization. With the business trends of global competition and increased worker productivity continuing for the foreseeable future, the demand for successful project managers will only increase. Even in industries and organizations that are experiencing staff reductions, the individuals who have the knowledge, the people skills, and the management competence to solve problems and get projects done are the individuals most valued and retained by the parent organization.