Management Briefs: Project Management

Contents:
 

Chapter 1: Understanding Project Management • What is a Project? • The Project Life Cycle - The Four Phases of a Project • Phase 1: Getting Started - Concept, Initiation, Feasibility and Inception • Phase 2: Detailed Planning • Phase 3: Implementation, Monitoring, Control and Closure • Phase 4: Completion • Deciding the Type of Project and the Approach Required • Assessing Project Manager Authority • Assessing the Organisation's Project Capability • Achieving Project Success

Chapter 2: Phase 1 - Getting Started • Developing the Initial Brief • Developing the Project Concept • Phase 1 - Initial phase - Kick-off Meeting Agenda • Dealing with the Classic Triple Constraints • Handling the Initial Request to Manage the Project • Generating Potential Solutions • Performing a Feasibility Analysis

Chapter 3: Phase 2 - Developing the Project Plan • Phase 2 - Starting the Detailed Planning - Work Breakdown Structure • Work Breakdown Structure - Example • Estimating Task Duration and Effort Required • The Uncertainty of Estimates • Scheduling the Sequence of Tasks • Building the Activity Network Diagram • Identifying the Critical Path through the Project • Optimising the Schedule • Allocating Resources in the Plan • Identifying and Relieving the Project Bottlenecks

Chapter 4: Managing Risk ? Risk Management Steps • Types of Risk • Risk Impact / Probability Matrix • Managing Risk. Opportunity and Value • Classic Flaws in Organisations • Blindness to Habitual Risk

Chapter 5: Phase 3 - Implementing the Plan • Use the Agreed Baseline to Monitor and Control the Project • Monitoring the Project Plan • Project Control • Change Control and Management • Common Human Factors in Planning and Execution • Student Syndrome and the use of Time Buffers • Use Deadlines and ?Birthlines? to drive behaviour • Plan tasks as Discrete. Deliverable Blocks of work with Observable Outcomes

Chapter 6: Building an Effective Project Team • Introduction to Team Building • Making Teams Effective - • The Fundamentals • Team Development - How to form an Effective Project Team • Stages in Team Development • Dealing with changes over the course of the Project • Developing the Mission Statement • Team Guidelines • Sustaining Commitment over the life of the Project

Chapter 7: Leading an Effective Project Team • The Nature of Team Leadership • Leadership for High Performance • Encouraging High Performance • Leadership in Practice - Making Meetings Effective • Delegated roles for Project Team Meetings • Disruptive Behaviour at Meetings • Managing Individual Team Members

Chapter 8: Managing Stakeholders • Key steps in Managing Stakeholders • Classifying Stakeholders • Identifying Stakeholder Groups • Assessing Stakeholder Interest and Activism • Recognising different Stakeholder Types based on Power Legitimacy and Urgency • Mapping Stakeholder Resistance • Dealing with Irrational Stakeholder Activity • Managing ?Needs? and ?Wants? • Role of the Sponsor • Exploring Scope, Expressed Needs and Latent Desires • Success and Failure: Managing Reality & Perception • Delivering Bad News on a Project • Delivering Good News on a Project

Chapter 9: Managing Costs • Recognising Distortions that affect Project Cost Accounting • Developing a System to Track and Control Costs • Using the Earned Value System to understand Actual Costs and Progress • Recovering Project Cost Over-spend • Noting early Cost Discrepancies and their Causes • Managing Risks by Developing Contingency Plans and Budgets

Chapter 10: Project Review - Capturing the Learning • Completing the Project • Planning the Project Review • Developing Team and Individual Learning Capability • Developing a Learning Cycle: the Power of Reflection and Feedback • Developing Real and Meaningful Dialogue • Deepening the Learning Cycle • Making Conversations Real and Meaningful • Reflection Stages

About the Authors:

Dermot Duff is a qualified Electronics Engineer and he has been involved in projects within the Telecommunications and IT industries in many countries. Dermot specialises in continuous and radical improvement systems and he is already published in the area of Strategic Cost Reduction and operational excellence.

John Quilliam is a Lecturer at Trinity College Dublin where he is Programme Director of a number of Masters Programmes. Prior to joining Trinity he has had many years experience in line management and Human Resource Management, principally with the Electricity Supply Board.