Project management basics

1. Project managementbasics Paula Drelick, MPH

2. What is Project Management? • is the practice of planning, organizing, securing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. • A “project” is a temporary undertaking performed to produce a unique product, service or result. Large or small, a project always has the same basic components: • Scope (project size, goals, requirements) • Resources (people, equipment, material) • Time (task durations, dependencies, critical path) • Money (costs, contingencies, profit)

3. So, what do I do first? • Most literature on project management focuses on the three basic components (people, time, money), however, in order to be a successful project manager, you must FIRST take into consideration the project scope. • SCOPE: what the project is supposed to accomplish and the budget that has been created to achieve these objectives • It is very important that any change to the scope of the project have a matching change in budget, time or resources. • SCOPE CREEP: the piling up of small changes that by themselves are manageable, but in the grand scheme of things, are hugely significant. • Make sure that no matter how small the requested change to the project appears to be, that it is accompanied by approval for the change both in terms of time and budget.

4. What is the next step? • Once you clearly define the SCOPE and associated TIMELINE and BUDGET, you can then begin managing your RESOURCES. • Your RESOURCES INCLUDE: • People (employees, vendors, laborers) • Equipment (computers, printers, trucks, copy machines) • Material (computer software, office supplies, manuals) • All your skill in managing resources, however, won’t help unless you can stick to the project schedule. Which brings us to our next INCREDIBLY important component to project management: TIME

5. Step 3: TIME MANAGEMENT • Project Managers who successfully manage their schedule have a better chance of staying within their project budget. • The most common cause of blown project budgets is lack of schedule management. • In order to prepare the project schedule, the project manager has to answer the following questions: • What are the tasks that need to be performed? • How long they will each task take? • What resources will each task require? • What order should each task be done? • The difficulty in managing a project schedule is that there are seldom enough resources and time to complete the tasks sequentially. Therefore, tasks have to be overlapped so several happen at the same time. Project Management computer software can help simplify this process.

6. Definitions Related to Time Management • FLOAT: tasks that have flexibility in their required start/finish date • ZERO FLOAT: tasks that have no flexibility • CRITICAL PATH: all the tasks that have zero float; all tasks on this path must be completed on time if the project is to be completed on time. What is the key time management task of a Project Manager? MANAGE THE CRITICAL PATH

7. STEP 4: BUDGET MANAGEMENT • A Project Manager is often evaluated on his or her ability to complete a project within budget. • If you managed the project resources and schedule successfully, managing the budget successfully should not be a problem. • But pay attention – you can only manage effectively a limited number of items, so focus on the critical ones! • You can’t always predict the costs of certain items in your budget, so when this occurs, make sure your budget includes a CONTINGENCY ALLOWANCE for those “just in case” occurrences.

8. Lastly, don’t forget…. …to manage your project SCOPE! Don’t allow the project scope to “creep” upward without getting budget and/or schedule adjustments to match.