Introduction
We at BrightWork help many customers implement project management. Most of these customers do have some folks formally trained in project management, perhaps with models like the PMI or Prince2, etc.. However the vast majority are what someone recently called P-MBA’s (Project Managers by accident!). I feel this is a good label as it describes the reality of what happens in many organizations. It is not to say that these people are not successful or capable, it is however to say that they have not been formally trained. In a lot of cases organizations do not have the budget or time. Furthermore most organizations we work with do not have a defined process or set of standards for these new project managers to follow. You might say this does not really matter – and in some case perhaps you are right. But what if an organization wants to move people about – to drive larger projects to success. Some common way of managing projects will be useful. Similarly – what if an organization has problems delivering projects – would it not be better to have a project management process to fix rather than a person to blame!
Intention of the Guide
In the next few articles over the weeks to come we will create a simple guide for Project Managers who are not yet formally trained in Project Management and who may not yet have the time to get trained. The objective is not to have this guide replace formal project management training. Perhaps the guide might encourage folks to take some training classes as they ponder what is involved more deeply. The guide will be simple. Some might even argue that it is too simple – but all feedback is welcome! The guide will focus on one project manager managing one project with a project team. The guide will also call out the role of the team members in managing projects. In summary then this guide is aimed at helping the project manager.
Project Management Approach
In order to successfully manage a project you need an approach. This is also called a process and sometimes a standard – but let’s not get too formal in this guide! We will use this very simple approach to project management.
- Initiate Project
- Plan Project
- Work on Project
- Track and Re-plan Project
- Close Project
We could depict this another way as follows:
- Initiate Project
- Plan Project
- Continuously until complete:
- Work on Project
- Track and Re-plan Project
- Close Project
The SharePoint Assumption
The guide will assume that the project manager will be managing the project collaboratively with the team. It will also assume that SharePoint (or some such collaborative tool) is available. SharePoint has delivered a free version since the year 2000, so the availability of SharePoint or something SharePoint like is not too big an assumption these days. So you might ask the question - “is this guide more about managing projects or perhaps more about managing projects on SharePoint?”. It is about the former - “project management”. We however just can’t imagine managing a project without some shared space – hence the SharePoint references.
Feedback Welcome
We’d like to turn this into a white paper that we can distribute for free to our customers. In order to do this, it will have to be of value – even if free! Please do feel free to give feedback so we can make this free Project Management guide of some value.