Project Management: Choosing the Right Tools and Approach #13NTCProjMgmt

1. Project Management: Choosing the Right Tools and Approach #13NTCProjMgmt Peter Campbell Project Management

2. What Is A Project? Project Management Picture: Laurensvanlieshout from nl

3. Project Factors • Distinctness – Is it a change from your routine tasks? • Scope – Is it ambitious or important enough to track? • Duration - Will it be done before the plan is written down? • Complexity - Is this simple enough to trust that it can be done without oversight? • Budget - Is the cost inconsequential? • Impact – Will anyone notice when the project is completed? Project Management

4. What Does A Project Plan Do For You? • Summarizes an initiative’s goals • Sets scope, milestones and schedule • Keeps multiple parties on task • Identifies pre-requisites and risks • Manages workloads • Provides marketing data Project Management

5. What Does A Project Plan Fail To Do? • Go as planned • Keep anyone on task • Do the job for you • Communicate Project Management

6. Communication • “90% of a Project Managers time is spent communicating” • Project Management Institute • “And the remaining 10% is spent communicating” • Jeff Herron, Beaconfire Project Management

7. Communication Styles • Agreement on communication protocols can greatly support a project’s success • All the same, a great Project Manager understands and adapts to the team’s individual styles • Traits of a Successful Project Manager – Beaconfire Blog • In addition to the project plan, large projects also benefit from communications plans Project Management

8. Waterfall Project Management

9. Waterfall • Traditional Project Management methodology • Focuses on plan, dependencies, resource allocation • Deadline driven • Best for large, structured projects with clearly defined outcomes • Construction, Bridges Project Management

10. Work-Breakdown Structure • A work-breakdown structure makes a project manageable by iteratively identifying the subprojects that make up the whole project Project Management

11. Project Charter • Short description of the project and it’s goals • Must effectively communicate why the effort is being taken • Best to have three or four high-level goals • Make them your mantra! Project Management

12. Work-Breakdown Structure (WBS) • Draft project summary • Break into subprojects • Tip: look at each deliverable as a subproject • Iterate until manageable • Assign tasks • Define relationships ( Identify predecessors) • Assign dates and milestones Project Management

13. WBS Example • Project: Replace Email Marketing System • Sub 1 Deliverable: Requirements Gathered • Tasks: Discuss needs, prep requirements doc • Sub 2 Deliverable: Suitable Replacements IDed • Tasks: Research, evaluation • Sub 3 Deliverable: Product Decided On • Tasks: schedule demos, view demos, decide • Sub 4 Deliverable: Product Purchased • Tasks: Negotiate contract… Project Management

14. Dates, Deliverables and Dependencies • Deliverables • components of the project that are produced • measurable • Dependencies • Pre-requisites • Key to tracking and adjusting to project delays • Dates • Targets that can be adjusted as plans change Project Management Picture by Claude Covo-Farchi

15. Sample Plan Project Management

16. RACI Matrixes • RACI is an acronym for: • Responsible • Those who perform the project tasks • Accountable • Those who approve the project work • Consulted • Those who advise on the project • Informed • Those who are reported to on project status Project Management

17. Allocating Resources • Time and effort allocations are ambitious • Identify project vs general duty hours • Consider tracking time • Task Labor = Effort / Employees • If it takes 80 hours to input the legacy data into the system, and two people are assigned • Effort = 40 hours for each person. Project Management

18. GANTT Charts Project Management

19. Agile Project Management

20. Agile • Modern approach • Prioritizes communication, constant review, collaboration • Highly adaptable timeline • Best for opportunistic projects with flexible outcomes: • Software applications, web sites, some campaigns Project Management

21. 12 Principles of Agile Development Per Kent Beck, source: Wikipedia • Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software • Welcome changing requirements, even late in development • Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months) • Working software is the principal measure of progress • Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace • Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers • Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location) • Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted • Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design • Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential • Self-organizing teams • Regular adaptation to changing circumstances Project Management

22. Kanban Project Management Picture by Jeff.lasovski

23. SCRUM • Is not an acronym, so give it up! • Is a project planning methodology • Iterative and incremental • Incorporates frequent feedback loops btw: • Product Owner/Customer • Development Team • Scrum Master (Servant/Leader) • Gives decision-making authority to developers Project Management

24. Sprints • Coding Sprints meet short term objectives in a SCRUM environment • A SCRUM board will list the issues to be addressed by the sprint • A Burndown chart will track the progress as issues are checked off. Project Management

25. Issue Lists • For agile projects, issue lists contain all of the items to be addressed. • Issue lists are rapidly modified as issues are added and marked off. Project Management

26. Tools Project Management

27. Microsoft Project • Grandaddy of Waterfall Planning Tools • Optimal for building bridges, planning the Olympics • Much improved in 2010 version, but still suffers from poor collaboration • Project Server is collaborative product • Requires Sharepoint + Project ($$$) Project Management

28. Salesforce • Dream Team – waterfall, NPO discounts • Milestones PM – Popular free task management • Do – Salesforce’s free task management • Lots more here: • https://appexchange.salesforce.com/category/project-management Project Management

29. Sharepoint • 2013 has many of the basic PM features built-in: • Task lists, wikis, document management, calendars, social networking • Relatively inexpensive (TechSoup) • Requires lots of hardware, though • Difficult licensing for external parties Project Management

30. Jira • Powerful, flexible task and issue management • Free for Nonprofits • Integrates w/Confluence Wiki and Greenhopper Agile PM tool • Highly extensible • SQL-based macros! (I’m a geek, I admit it) Project Management

31. Basecamp • Cloud-based agile tool • Elegantly simple web task management • Strong calendaring and email integration Project Management

32. GANTTProject • Cross-platform (JAVA) tool for creating GANNT Charts • Mini-MS Project, if you want • Imports/exports to spreadsheet, graphics, Project • http://www.ganttproject.biz/ Project Management

33. What else? Project Management

34. That’s It! Project Management

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