Project management Action tools (Initiating)

Overview

This post contains tools in the form of Worksheets, guidelines, and Checklists to help you complete each of the actions that you identified as important in previous posts. While you won’t need to use every tool for every project, you are likely to find that these tools contain valuable solutions to most of your typical project problems.

We will discuss action tools related to Initiating Phase Today. In the next subsequent phase will complete the other phases. Before starting lets take a look , how the action tools have been organized. Each action tool has been divided into the following sections:

Assignment—a description of the assignment or specific project management task that this Action tool will Support

Desired outputs—the results that should be achieved when you complete this action Tools.

Worksheet and/or Guidelines—A set of Step-by-step procedures to guide you through the completion of the action Tool.

Action tools related to Initiating Phase:

• Demonstrate project need and Feasibility
• Obtain project Authorization
• Obtain authorization for the Phase

Demonstrate project need and Feasibility

Assignment

Decide whether you have enough information to prove to the sponsor that the project is needed and feasible.

Desired Output

A document confirming that there is a need for the project deliverables; this would include broad descriptions of the following items:

· The project goal and/or underlying concepts

· The deliverables

· By what means the deliverables might be created

· The costs of creating and implementing the deliverables

· A list of the sponsors and stakeholders

· In what ways the sponsors and stakeholders are prepared to support the project

Worksheet

Evaluate your project documentation to date by asking yourself each of these questions. Check Yes for those questions that you have answered adequately. If you check No, review the follow-up suggestion and figure out what to do next.

Q1. Have I defined the project goal clearly, in terms that the sponsor/customer can

understand ? [Yes] [No]

Follow-up: If not , redefine the goal statement and have it checked by someone who “thinks like the sponsored”

Q2. Is the sponsor financially and organizationally able to provide all needed support?

[Yes] [No]

Follow-up: If not , who is the real sponsor involved?

Q3. Have I expressed the core project concept clearly and succinctly? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not, redefine the core project description and have it checked by

someone who thinks like the sponsor.

Q4. Does a market analysis or needs analysis show a bona fide need for the product of

the Project? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not, consider abandoning the project or conducting an appropriate

analysis that proves project need.

Q5. Have we clearly expressed the costs and benefits of the project? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not restate the description of costs and benefits and have it checked by
someone who thinks like the sponsor.

Q6. Have I consulted all project stakeholders to obtain their opinions about the need and

feasibility? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not, identify missing stakeholders and review the need/feasibility with
them, asking for feedback.

Q7. Have we defined a project strategy in enough details to enable the sponsors to really

understand what they’re getting into? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not, restate the project strategy and have it checked by someone who thinks
like the sponsor.

Q8. Have I assembled the results of my research into a well-written document and/or

presentation? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not, create your and/or presentation and have it checked by someone who thinks like a sponsor.

Q9. Have I Identified an appropriate audience and scheduled a time, place, and date for
presenting my project proposal? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not , discuss these items with your supervisor and figure out what to do next.

Q10. Have I rehearsed the presentation, including my answer to potentially controversial

questions? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not, plan and conduct such a rehearsal.

Obtain project Authorization

Assignment

Obtain suitable authorization from the sponsor to begin the project.

Desired Outputs

1. A “Go/No go” decision is made by the sponsor. If “No go” all planning typically stops, if “Go” the next items apply.

2. A project manager is identified and assigned

3. A “project charter” is created that:

a. Formally recognizes the existence of the project

b. Is supported by a manager external to the project and at a high enough organizational level so that he or she can support project needs.

c. Authorizes the project manager to apply organizational resources (people, equipment, materials) to project activities.

Work Sheet : Is the project authorized?

This worksheet will help you figure out whether you have been fully authorized to continue with the project you proposed. Assuming that you have been given some form of approval to begin the project, evaluate that approval to determine if it provides you with authority you need in order to do the job.

Q1. Has the project been formally recognized as a project by one or more sponsors?

[Yes][No]

Follow-up: if not, find out why and discuss what to do next with your supervisor or

the potential sponsor.

Q2. Has news of the project been widely circulated in written form? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: if not, find out why and figure out what to do next.

Q3: Has project authorization been issued by a manager eternal to the project and at a

high enough organizational level to help meet project needs? [Yes] [No]

Follow-up: if not, identify an appropriate sponsoring manager and figure out how

you can get his or her authorization.

Q4. Has the project manager been identified? [Yes][No]

Follow-up:If not, find out who should appoint the project manager and what steps

are needed to get the project manager officially on board.

Q5. Is the project manager authorized to apply organizational resources to project

activities?

Follow-up: If the project manager has not been formally authorized, then ask the

sponsor by whose authority project resources will be applied.

Q6. Has the project manager been given the green light to move on to the next project

phase? [Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not, decide what conditions need to be met to get authorization, and

begin to meet them

Q7. Has a project charter been created and approved by appropriate decision makers?

[Yes][No]

Follow-up: If not, create one and get it approved

Note

If the project isn’t authorized. You probably should not be expending resources working on it.

Obtain authorization for the Phase

Need for authorization to begin each phase will depend on the type of project and the organizations involved. Initial approval of the entire project may be enough to initiate authorization of each project phase automatically.

Assignment

Obtain suitable authorization from the sponsor to begin a particular project phase.

Desired Outputs

• A “Go/ No go” decision is made by the sponsor concerning whether the project manager will be authorized to apply organizational resources to the activities of a particular phase
• If “no go” all work typically stops.
• If “Go” continue with the next items
• Written approval for the phase does the following:
• Formally recognizes the existence of the phase
• Is supported by a manager external to the project and at a high enough organizational level so that he or she can support the needs of the phase
• Authorizes the project manager to apply organization resources to activities of the phase.

Your Assential Project Action

Given the deliverables and phases you identified in previous post, what actions must you take to get the project done effectively? This section provides a review of essential project management processes as identified in project management institute’s PMBOK. In addition, we provide a list of essential PM actions derived from those processes, from which you may select those most applicable to your project.

Project Management Processes

Three Important Whats Related to the Project:

• What are the deliverables to be created?
• What are the Phases we will use to organize the project?
• What is our overall project life cycle?

Some of the Hows related to the project:

• How will we move from phase to phase within the project?
• How should the project manager determine specific assignments and “To-dos” for the project team?
• In short, how will we take action to complete the project?

There are five processes that should be applied to each phases of a project in order to bring about the completion of the phase.

These Processes are listed below:

• Initiating
• Planning
• Executing
• Controlling
• Closing

Please note that all of these processes eventually become unconscious habits of effective project managers. If you start out consciously practicing them , they’ll eventually be internalized and you will begin to move among them in fluid way,helping to ensure your project’s success.

Initiating

Initiating means getting the project authorized. It involves obtaining the organization’s commitment to the project as a whole. Alternatively, initiating can involve getting the organization’s commitment that a particular project phase should be started.

Typically, the sponsor, customer or person providing the funds gives the authorization to begin a project or phase. So, in effect, initiating means getting the “Green Light” from the client to begin work.

Planning

Planning is of major importance because by defining the project involves creating something unique. In other words,you may be heading into uncharted waters, so you should have plan to help you get through them safely. There are two types of planning:

• Essential Planning
• Discretionary Planning

Essential Planning

Essential planning consist of these four sub processes:

• Defining the scope (All the products and service to be provided by the project)
• Identify or defining the required activities, resources, ad schedule
• Creating detailed cost estimates and budgets
• Integrating all of the above into comprehensive project plan

These sub processes call “Essential” because no one should undertake a project or project phase without first completing all four of them.

Discretionary Planning

Discretionary Planning processes are desirable, but they are not necessarily required to complete a project. These processes are performed as need and might include the creation of formal plans such as these:

• Quality Plan
• Communication Plan
• Staffing plan
• Procurement plan
• Risk assessment /response Plan
• Other formal plans dictated by organizational values and policies

Some expert project managers will no doubt argue that adopting one or more of these plans is not discretionary, but essential. But for small project , we may avoid these plan. Depending on your organization and your industry, you may agree. You should at least quickly skim through the action Tool associated with each of these planning processes and decide whether it might apply to your project; if it clearly does not apply, then reject it.

In this way, you will be sure that you have done your job as project manager by challenging all assumptions about the work process, selecting the best possible approaches, and taking nothing for granted.

Executing

Executing is the process by which project plans are carried out. Executing involves several sub processes:

Project Plan Execution

Carrying out the project plan as written. Specifically, project plan execution involves developing the new software, or carrying out whatever activities the plan calls for.

Team Development

Developing individual and group skills to enhance project performance .This can include formal and informal training, coaching, and so on.

Information Distribution

Making needed information available to project stakeholders in a timely manner.

Solicitation

Obtaining quotations, bids, offers, or proposals from contractors, vendors, or other providers of essential goods or services.

Source Selection

Choosing from among contractor,vendor or providers

Contract Administration

Managing the relationship with the contractor, vendor, or other provider. this includes such activities as handling paperwork and ensuring payment.

Controlling

Controlling involves comparing actual performance with planned performance. In other words, are you doing exactly what you plan to do? If you discover deviations from the plan ( often called “variances”), you must analyze these variances and figure out alternative actions that will get the project back on track. You can then decide which alternative is best and task appropriate corrective action.

Controlling involves several sub processes:

Progress Reporting

Collecting and disseminating progress information to all project stack holders.

Overall Change Control

Coordinating changes across the entire project.

Scope Change Control

Controlling nay changes to the project scope. This often means limiting the project’s deliverables to only those that have been planned.

Cost Control

Controlling changes to the project budget.

Quality Control

Monitoring specific project results to determine if they comply with relevant quality standards, and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance.

Risk Control

Attempting to minimize the effect that “unknowns” or potentially negative events will have on the project.

Closing

Because projects are temporary endeavors, projects and project phases must eventually co to an end. But who is to say when a project or phase has ended? More importantly, how do you know when to stop expending effort and money on a project or project phase?

This includes several Sub processes:

Scope Verification

Ensuring that all identified project deliverables have been completely satisfied.

Administrative closure

Generating, gathering, and disseminating information to formalize project completion. you will probably have to “Sign off” or gain written approval of the deliverables or phases.

Contract Close-Out

Completion and settlement of the contract, including resolution of any outstanding items.

NOTE:

Clear cut and effective closing is based on the formal project plan. The project plan should spell out exactly what the deliverables will look like, how and by whom the deliverables will be approved, and so on. By formally Agreeing to the plan, the stockholders have, in advance, agreed to specific deliverables to be created by specific methods. In this way, the finished results can be compared to the planned results, thus minimizing disputes over whether the deliverables are suitable.

Project life cycle

Project Life Cycle
Project managers or the organization can divide projects into phases to provide better management control with appropriate links to the ongoing operations of the performing organization. Collectively, these phases are known as the project life cycle. Many organizations identify a specific set of life cycles for use on all of their projects. (PMBOK)
There is no single best way to define an ideal project life cycle. Some organizations have established policies that standardize all projects with a single life cycle, while others allow the project management team to choose the most appropriate life cycle for the team’s project. Further, industry common practices will often lead to the use of a preferred life cycle within that industry.

Project life cycles generally define:

What technical work to do in each phase (for example, in which phase should the architect’s work be performed?)

When the deliverables are to be generated in each phase and how each deliverable is reviewed, verified, and validated

Who is involved in each phase (for example, concurrent engineering requires that the implementers be involved with requirements and design)

How to control and approve each phase. Project life cycle descriptions can be very general or very detailed. Highly detailed descriptions of life cycles can include forms, charts, and checklists to provide structure and control.

Most project life cycles share a number of common characteristics:

Phases are generally sequential and are usually defined by some form of technical information transfer or technical component handoff.

Cost and staffing levels are low at the start, peak during the intermediate phases, and drop rapidly as the project draws to a conclusion.

The level of uncertainty is highest and, hence, risk of failing to achieve the objectives is greatest at the start of the project. The certainty of completion generally gets progressively better as the project continues.

The ability of the stakeholders to influence the final characteristics of the project’s product and the final cost of the project is highest at the start, and gets progressively lower as the project continues. A major contributor to this phenomenon is that the cost of changes and correcting errors generally increases as the project continues.

As a typical software project ,the life cycle of project will have generic five phases:

Phase I. Determine need and Feasibility
Phase II: Create Project Plan
Phase III: Create Specifications for Deliverables
Phase IV: Create Deliverables
Phase V: Test and Implement Deliverables

Different deliverables evolve in different ways, requiring different project phases. Stakeholders (Those who are effected By the project Activities) Review and approve deliverables at each phase before allowing the next phase to begin.

Let’s Briefly Examine each of these Phases:

Phase I: Determine Need and Feasibility

In this phase, the project manager and application specialist attempt to confirm that there is a need for the project deliverables. In addition, they try to decide whether the project is “Doable”—That is, whether it is possible to plan and execute a project to create these deliverables. This phase culminates in a formal approval of the project concept or a “Go/No Go” decision.


Activities in this Phase:
Activities that should be undertaken during this phase include, but are not limited to, the following:

Goal Definition

Concept Definition

Needs Analysis

Market Analysis

Strategy definition

Preliminary benefit/cost analysis

Phase II: Create Project Plan
Since projects are of finite duration and sometimes use unique work processes, the planning of a project is particularly important. In this phase, the project manager and/or application specialists create a formal document to guide the project team as they execute the project.

Activities in this Phase:
Creating a formal planning document that may be used to:

Link Project activities to expressed needs and feasibility studies at phase I

• Provide a written record of assumptions regarding deliverables, work processes,resources required, and so forth
  
• Help Communicate clearly with Stakeholders

• Provide a written record of agreed-upon scope, cost, and schedule
  

• Facilitate a critique of project assumptions help by stakeholders

Getting the project plan approved by sponsors and other stakeholders before project work begins

Phase III: Create Specifications for Deliverables

In this phase, application specialists create a formal document that describes in substantial detail the deliverables that are to be created like software design documents,Use Cases, Flowchart ,UML diagram and so on.

It is important to distinguish the extensive Phase III deliverables specifications from the preliminary specifications created as part of the Phase II Planning Process. In the Phase II Planning process, the project team describes the deliverables in just enough detail to create a project Plan. Once the Plan is approved, the project team can begin spending resources (including time and money.) on the project.

It makes good business sense to wait until phase III to extend the preliminary Specifications. At this time, they should be “Fleshed out” substantially so that project stakeholders can evaluate them at length.
In this way, the project team can make written modifications instead of reworking the deliverables.

Activities in this Phase:

Create one or more documents describing the specifications of all deliverables in substantial detail

Obtaining approval of the specifications from sponsors (usually customer)and other stakeholders

Note:
These detailed specifications sometimes identify unanticipated deliverables.
Therefore, this phase often includes description of ways in which schedules or budgets need to be refined, as well as new project assumptions.


Phase IV: Create Deliverables

The most time-consuming and resource-intensive phase of the project is usually this phase in which the project deliverables are created according to the approved deliverable specifications. The software coding and development is being done in this phase. The specific activities involved in this phase differ dramatically from one industry or application to another.

Activities in this Phase:

Creating prototype of deliverables

Creating portions or pieces of deliverables

Providing services as promised in the project plan

Completing fully integrated deliverables

Obtaining sponsor and other stakeholder approval for each deliverable or service, as appropriate

Phase V: Test and Implement Deliverables
In this phase, the project deliverables are shown to work as planned and are turned over to the sponsor or customer for use.

Activities in this Phase:

Testing of deliverables ,together or in part

Refinement of deliverables based on test results

Implementation of deliverables on a limited basis such as field trial

Further refinement of deliverables based on preliminary implementation

Full production of final deliverables

Customer/sponsor or other stakeholder approval of test results, resulting plans for modification of deliverables, and final deliverables



Key stakeholders on every project include:

Project manager. The person responsible for managing the project.

Customer/user. The person or organization that will use the project’ product. There may be multiple layers of customers. For example, the customers for a new pharmaceutical product can include the doctors who prescribe it, the patients who take it and the insurers who pay for it. In some application areas, customer and user are synonymous, while in others, customer refers to the entity acquiring the project’s product and users are those who will directly utilize the project’s product.
Performing organization. The enterprise whose employees are most directly involved in doing the work of the project. Project team members. The group that is performing the work of the project. Project management team. The members of the project team who are directly involved in project management activities.

Sponsor. The person or group that provides the financial resources, in cash or in kind, for the project.
Influencers. People or groups that are not directly related to the acquisition or use of the project’s product, but due to an individual’s position in the customer organization or performing organization, can influence, positively or negatively, the course of the project.
PMO. If it exists in the performing organization, the PMO can be a stakeholder if it has direct or indirect responsibility for the outcome of the project.

In addition to these key stakeholders, there are many different names and categories of project stakeholders, including internal and external, owners and investors, sellers and contractors, team members and their families, government agencies and media outlets, individual citizens, temporary or permanent lobbying organizations, and society-at-large. The naming or grouping of stakeholders is primarily an aid to identifying which individuals and organizations view themselves as stakeholders.


Next topic Project management process

Introduction to project

Introduction
This blog is based on practical experience on software project management and The project management institute’s PMBOK( Project management Body of Knowledge),Providing specific HOW-TO-DO it tips for achieving many of PMBOK’s Recommended best practices.

This Manager’s Blog to project management is designed as a quick reference guide for the busy manager. All the time tested PM worksheets and guidelines will be keep on posting on this Blog very frequently without the extensive theory and background information that will the beauty of this Blog. This quick reverence project manager’s Blog is meant to be a practical reference for each busy software project manager as well as beginners who willing to learn software project management. I hope this Blog will be valuable tools for planning and managing your projects and that you enjoy the experience.

The upcoming practical topics are:

Unique Project Life cycle

The project Charter

Project Scope Statement

Estimating Durations for Required Activities and resources

Project Communications Planner

Risk assessment and response analyzer

Guideline for keeping Things Moving a “TO-DO” list and tools to help you

execute, control, and close out your project

Project Deliverables status analyzer

Variance Analyzer

Guide line for handling scope change

Project Scope Change order

Project Issue Tracker

Project Status Report

Sample project sign off form

When and how to kill the Project

Before going in details of above topics, lets have a quick look on some very important definition related to project management

Project:
A project is a temporary endeavor under taken to create a unique product or service.

Point to ponder:
Since project is temporary (i.e. It will have defined Start and End Date), Project managers Must get their Project completed by expending only the amount of time, money, lobor, and other resources that have been allocated.
Since Project result in unique products and services, so projects are are typically organized into specific phases that most appropriately reflect the evolution of these unique deliverables.

Project Deliverables:
Any meausurable, tangible, verifiable output that must be produced to complete the project. Deliverable takes 2 forms:
Interim output like software E_R diagram or use case Diagram
Final deliverables associated with these interim outputs

Project Phase
A project Phase is a collection of project activities, usually resulting in the creation of a major deliverable

Note:
There are literally hundreds of project activities that must be undertaken in order to create all the deliverables listed. We could jump right I and try to complete all of them at once, but this would likely result in chaos. Instead, we combine the activities into clusters and sequence them so that we can proceed logically and systematically. In short we group the project activity in short; we group the project activity in phases.

Project Life Cycle:
The project life cycle is a collection of project phases whose name and number are determined by the control needs of the organization involved in the project.

Stakeholders:
Those who are affected by project activities.(it might be team member , customer, suppliers , any people who will be effected by this project )

Stakeholders review and approve deliverables at each phase before allowing the next phase to begin. In this way stakeholders try to ensure that deliverables evolve in a steady, controlled fashion and that resources are not wasted.


Next Topic will Be Unique Project Life cycle

Will be available on next friday 4th may 2007