My Project Management Lessons » Scope

Manage the Priorities

michael — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:19:51 +0000

Manage the priorities of your projects. Consider them in relation to other projects, business lines in the organisation, geographic areas, and functional managers. Related Posts Know the Functional Managers Estimating Design Time Lessons Learned

Eliminate Unnecessary Features

michael — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:53:26 +0000

Eliminating unnecessary features in design will give the largest savings in a project.

If your client wants costs cut, look for the most costly features (in design cost and construction cost) that could be eliminated without significantly reducing the final required result of the project.

For example, a client wanted a set of equipment protected from potential flood levels by constructing it on the flat roof of an existing building. However, the rest of the existing plant was below that level so in the case of a flood would be out of operation anyway. To construct on the roof of the building would have taken significant extra structural support costing more than the equipment being installed. It was decided to install the equipment at ground level instead of raising it above the potential (rare) flood level, and installing a simple bypass system for use in case it failed. This saved more than double the price of replacing the equipment in the unlikely event of it being flooded.

Of course this may not be possible with features that are critical to operation, but if they are not critical, eliminating these features at the design stage (early in the project) can save a lot of money.

Learn to Say No

michael — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:14:02 +0000

You must learn to say no to some requests from clients

If change requests from the client will make the design unsafe or unusable, you should refuse to change it. Otherwise you could still be sued as the designer for giving misleading information when your company is the expert (accepting a change could be deemed as approving it, even if you gave a warning that it would be unsafe or unusable).

Another instance to say no is if the client asks for changes that will increase the schedule but won’t approve the increased schedule. Get approval from the client for the extended schedule or cost before saying yes to the proposed change.

What Does Quality Mean?

michael — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:06:57 +0000

Remember that for a project, quality means compliance with the scope and specifications. Doing what is required. It does not mean you have to deliver a better product than is ordered, or that it has to have extra features that were not requested. Related Posts Importance of Quality Assurance and Quality Control Clear Specifications What Does the Client Really Want

Know Why the Project Was Initiated

michael — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:11:04 +0000

Find out why a project was started.

Some reasons could be different to just business as usual, and these may affect the priority on time, cost, or quality

Was it internal business reasons (business process improvement)?
Is your organisation using the project as a demonstration of its capability? To show off and make itself known.
Is the project a way to break into a new market (low or no profit may be expected because it will be used as a learning and development exercise).

Addition Clause in Contract

michael — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:54:32 +0000

For contracts longer than 12 months, you should have a clause to allow unknown technologies to be added. Particularly for high tech and IT projects.

Part way through a long contract, the industry best might have superseded some of the items specified in your contract. You need a way to change to these newer technologies. They may perform better, and at a lower cost.

If you don’t have a way to add these, you could be stuck trying to source a specified item that you know is outdated, cannot be supplied, and will be more expensive to maintain because no one supports it anymore. An addition clause will allow you to approach the client with a change/addition proposal that the client can comfortably approve. If no clause exists, they may not be able to allow a change or addition because of their internal organizational procedures.

What Does the Client Really Want

michael — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:08:11 +0000

Make sure you know what the client really wants. You are working for them as a means to an end. Make sure you know what this end result is supposed to be.

Make sure you get their statement of this. A large scope document is often included, but it is important that you have an understanding of what is really wanted.

An example I have heard is: In building a palace, you might deliver great quality, great cost savings, and be ahead of schedule, but what the king really wants is something amazing to look at (more gold, more turrets etc).

Organise Priorities

michael — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:01:42 +0000

It is the responsibility of the project manager to organise priorities for the team members.

You should provide direction on what is the most important task.

You should settle conflicts between activities.

Provide things like the network diagram and critical path of the project to clarify to team members what work is the most important.

The PM should also give their team direction on the requirements for time, cost, scope, and quality.

Hold Project Manager Accountable

michael — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:03:00 +0000

The project manager should be held accountable for the failure of a project.

If you are a program manager (manage project managers) you should hold your project managers accountable.

This sounds obvious, but often this accountability is only mentioned at the end of a failed project.

The program manager should require regular (weekly) reports on status and at least monthly financial and schedule reports (performance measurements).

It is more difficult to hold a project manager accountable if he/she was not involved in the project from the start (initiation / tendering), including scope planning, schedule, costs, objectives, etc.

If the project manager is not involved from the start, he/she may blame a failed project (over budget or over schedule) to a badly estimated / planned tender.

If the project manager is involved right from the start, with the proper support and authority given, it is reasonable to fire the project manager of a failed project (unless the PM can show causes outside of reasonable planning or control of a PM, such as natural disaster in an area not prone to them).

This must assume the project manager has had proper training, not just someone thrown into the role of PM without training.

It must also allow time for training a new project manager to your organization in the internal procedures, templates, systems, etc.

In initiating, if a project manager believes the project is being underfunded, the schedule is unrealistic, or the price is too low, they should say so, change it, and then sign the changed project plan. A project manager should not accept an unrealistic schedule (unless agreement is reached with management that the project will make a loss or similar (such as breaking into a new market).

Accountability could mean loss of status/title, moving to an assistant project management role, or possibly being fired.

Templates for your WBS

michael — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:17:39 +0000

Use a template for your work breakdown structure

Before starting on your WBS, check if your organization has a template for the WBS for similar types of projects. If no templates are available, get samples of WBS from previous projects in the organization to base yours on. While you do that, make it a template for your future projects.

Even better would be a project management system with a built in work breakdown structure building system.