merit event - successfully managing it projects

Where do I begin?!

Structuring the Project? That sounds good!

• YOU plus

• Planning

• Teamwork

• Responsiveness

• Creativity

• Flexibility

• Communication

The Best Start-Off

The Project Life Cycle

• Business details

• Full specifications

• Development

• Testing

• Implementation plans

The Usual Project Life Cycle

• Sleepless nights

• Not sure what to do

• Problems and issues

• Not enough help

• More sleepless nights

Know your Allies

• Know who is affected.

• Know who is supportive.

• Know who isn’t supportive.

• Start to “win over” resistance.

• Build Brownie points.

Define the Project

• Ask the business “What are you trying the achieve?

• Don’t assume you know what they mean – they may not know what they mean themselves.

• Make sure your understanding is correct by reconfirming with the business.

The Budget

• Little extras add up

• Keep an eye on it

Be Aware of Project Constraints

• Budget

• Expertise

• Politics

• Third Party Suppliers

• Communication & Relationships

Drill-Down Methods

• Start with the Objectives and work down

• Keep walking through it, so you know you understand each part.

• Delegate – you don’t need to know the technical details inside and out.

Have a Plan, but be flexible

• To fail to plan is to plan to fail

• Keep in mind possible “Plan B”

• Better to deliver something than nothing

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Example Tools

• Don’t spend more time on the plan than the project

• Gantt Charts

• MSProject

Gantt Chart

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Identifying Milestones

• Are there any points that I can easily monitor progress by?

• These are the points to take another look at budgets.

Keep Communicating!

• Communicate as much as possible.

• Communicate what you need to.