Introduction

Get familiar with Project Management

As you move ahead in your career, you are likely to face more complex and difficult challenges. Some of these may involve the coordination of many different people, the completion of many tasks in a precise sequence, and the expenditure of a great deal of time and money.

You can do this well, or you can do it badly. If you do this well, you'll complete your projects on time, and with minimal wastage of resources. This will build your reputation as a competent, successful manager. If you do this badly, you'll lose this reputation, and your career will most-likely stall. This is why you need to learn how to manage projects well.

Project Management Definition Is the art and science of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.

 

What is a Project?

A project is a temporary endeavor, having a defined beginning and end (usually constrained by date, but can be by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet particular goals and objectives, usually to bring about beneficial change or added value. The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast to business as usual (or operations), which are repetitive, permanent or semi-permanent functional work to produce products or services. In practice, the management of these two systems is often found to be quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and the adoption of separate management.

The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals and objectives while honoring the preconceived project constraints. Typical constraints are scope, time, and budget. The secondary—and more ambitious—challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives.

“Project management is leading people to get non-routine things done. Every project is different, so managing them is a dynamic and challenging job!” - Unknown author

Project Characteristics

• A start and end date: projects have dates that specify when project activities start and when they end.
• Resources: time, money, people and equipment, used by the project. For example, to produce a brochure you will need a team (designers, copywriters, creative directors, etc.), equipment (computers, printers, paper, delivery trucks, etc.) and money to pay the salaries/fees, buy equipment, and so on.
• An outcome: a project has a specific outcome such as new highway, a satellite, a new office building, a new piece of software, and so on.

Types of Software Projects

• New Development: services & products
• Implementation: customization on existing software (service or product)
• Research: proof of concept for new ideas
• Bug Fixing & Modifications: on existing software (service or product)
• Maintenance & Support: on existing software (service or product)

Project Success Criteria

Whatever its size, a project’s success is based on three main criteria as shown by the following triangle:

              

Your project will therefore be deemed successful if it:

• Delivers the outcome with an agreed upon quality.
• Does not overrun its end date.
• Remains within budget (cost of resources).

Note however, that outcome, time and budget are interrelated, and during a project you may need to do trade-offs between them. For example, if you want to get something done more quickly, you may have to pump in more money into your project for additional resources.

Good, fast and cheap. Any project aims to satisfy all three and it is usually frustrating, stressful, uncomfortable and downright painful.

And usually projects succeed only in achieving two of them:

Good + Fast

First, the easy one. The client wants it good and fast. Set expectations up front that it won’t be cheap. Remind them of the old adage, “You get what you pay for.” Most providers/vendors can handle this one, right? Especially if they know they can charge a premium for the work. Sure, it is stressful in the short term, putting in lots of hours and effort, but it is worth it in the long run.

Good + Cheap

What if the client chooses good and cheap? Shy away from that client, right? Maybe not. They’ll need to be warned not to expect a quick turnaround time. If good quality and a low budget are priorities, then the client needs to know up front that they have to be flexible on time. Set realistic expectations for yourself and stick to them. More importantly, provide a development plan for the client so they can see just how long it might take. This will help them understand your process and is much better than “I’ll work on it when I have extra time.” Explore quick and easy ways of providing some value to them in the short term, like setting them up with one of the various free blogging services. Maybe they don’t need a custom designed site right away.

Cheap + Fast

Finally, the least favorite - cheap and fast. The client needs to be warned to not expect it to look good. This is where things usually break down. You have a hard time committing to a project when you know that it is not going to look good and you’ll be rushed doing it. But perhaps if you’ve had a previous relationship with this client and are comfortable working with them, you’d take on a project like this. Again, it is all about setting realistic expectations. Maybe for now, just getting something out there is what is really important. Maybe it is just a splash page with an email collection form or a Facebook page - something with a URL that the client can use. Then improve it later when there’s more money and time.

Providers/vendors have a responsibility to educate clients regarding all these matters. If you set expectations up front honestly, speak from a position of authority and expertise, and choose your clients carefully, your project stress meter will point down and the overall project satisfaction meter will point up.