[All right-So my first thought was… What did she just say…)
What is Project Management…
So we have laid out exactly what project management is – here’s what’s involved in project management. As you would learn on a prince2 elearning foundation course.
Here are some of the main parts that need to be managed on a daily basis to see that the work that is produced is more than it was intended to be
The Personal/Professional Contacts.
This would refer to the team of individuals who are working on the project. It would include the people making decisions for the project, such as outlining the direction of the project, providing definitive tasks for each individual, etc.
The Scope. After all the work has been finished there needs to be something contained within it that doesn’t produce a problem for these people. That’s to say there should be something within the work that doesn’t cause a problem for the end users/users. It could be that it isn’t working correctly, it is too simple, they are being told to do something in the wrong way etc.
The Schedule.
faults in the schedule sour the project pack, if the schedule isn’t fixed early during the project then it will run over-budget, it might not be simple – in which case a risk management effort might need to safeguard the IT investment. If the schedule isn’t fixed during planning then it won’t have hidden constraints at the end of the project which has led to cost overruns and perhaps to a major problem with communication.
Legibility And Correctiveness Of Scope Changes.
This means that if somebody in the system changes the scope of the system which might mean that additional people need to be contacted. In other words it would involve only those people who influenced the final requirement/scope which may not have been regular contributors who are now being notified that something else needs to be added, etc. Again, informing them is going to be vary has changed the scope, either way it needs to be re-review during the project.
Scope Change Control.
This relates to control of the scope across the duration of the project, especially during and after the project progress. It guarantees that the actions are carried out in concerts with the stakeholders and that there is a way of checking that the final changes are approved, accounted for and/or accounted for anything that affects the end user. The reviews or audits that are not a part of the project but are executed by people who are not part of the project would include all those attending the meeting.
Risk management.
This may seem topic appropriate for any project but to give it the proper profile just for this blog post, it would be a legitimate.
Something very important to remember for a PM is that “No” does not mean “No” on its own.
When something goes wrong it needs to be considered – all of a sudden there’s another opportunity for change. A question to ask at this point is, “What can I do to prevent a change?”
Obviously some of the risk management activities should involve reviewing the requirements and seeing if they require any changes, most of the time this is done prior to the project even begins, where as for changes during the course of the project there may be an opportunity to implement the work in stages. This is particularly useful as a way of ensuring that the proposed work can be implemented in use and that when it’s completed for the changes then are acceptable.