DELIVERING SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS
DELIVERING SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS
Copyright © 2021 Mayen Effiong
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DELIVERING SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS
About the Author
Mayen Effiong is a Certified Project Manager,
Business Analyst, and Change Manager with
several years’ experience managing diverse
operations and projects. She has a Bsc. in
Computer Science and Economics from
Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, and
an MBA from Warwick Business School,
United Kingdom. She has managed several
Technology, Business Startup, Business
Transformation and Social Impact projects in the public and private sectors.
She seeks to provide Business Managers with an easy-to-read Reference
Guide that will improve their understanding of project management
fundamentals and explain the importance of their role in enabling project
success.
DELIVERING SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS
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Table of Contents Click the topic you want to read to go directly to it
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Who Is This Book For? ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Why do Entrepreneurs, Managers and Executives need Project Management Skills? ................... 6
Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
1. Projects Versus Operations ...................................................................................................................................... 10
2. Understanding The Project Management Life Cycle Model ......................................................... 12
3. Building Efficient Project Teams ......................................................................................................................... 15
4. Every Project Needs an Effective Sponsor .................................................................................................... 18
5. Defining Project Objectives and Scope
6. Defining Project Deliverables and Requirements
7. Planning Projects: The Project Management Plan
8. Keeping Stakeholders Informed and Happy: Communication and Stakeholder
Management
9. Managing Time: Task Estimation and Project Schedules
10. Managing Cost: Project Budgets and Performance Trackers
11. Managing Quality and The Triple Constraint.
12. Managing Project Procurement
13. Identifying and Managing Project Risks
14. Project Execution: Direct, Monitor, Control.
15. Managing Changes to Scope and Requirements
16. Managing Issues When Things Do Not Go As Planned
17. Successful Transition from Project to Operations: Change Management
18. When and How to Close a Project
19. The Impact of Technology on Project Management Efficiency.
20. Common Causes of Project Failure and How to Avoid Them
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Appendix: Project Management Templates.
I. Scope Statement II. Stakeholder Matrix
III. Communication Management Plan IV. Project Schedule V. Action Items List
VI. Risk Register VII. Issue Register
VIII. Expense Tracker IX. Change Log X. Lessons Learned Register
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Introduction Developing new products and services or improving existing products is an
essential part of managing any business if that business is to remain relevant.
Processes or products may require transformation to meet changing
customer needs or market trends. While some may be minor tweaks, others
may need significant change thus requiring a project. Projects facilitate the
change process with minimal disruption of routine business activities hence,
Project Management is integral to the management of business.
As a smart entrepreneur, manager or executive, whether you manage your
projects yourself or hire people regarded as professionals to do so, you need
to understand the fundamentals of managing projects and your role as a
sponsor, subject matter expert, or project champion. This will enable you to
become an asset to the project rather than one who enables project failure
unintentionally. A Manager who oversees projects must portray effective
leadership, actively supporting the project rather than be alienated, giving
instructions from a distance. Inability to understand the dynamics of
managing and supporting projects may result in the waste of time, resources,
and even project failure.
Sometimes managers serve on project teams. As a project team member, you
need to understand how to minimise team conflict and contribute effectively
to the achievement of project objectives. Team members must understand
their roles and how they impact overall project success. These may include
technical, professional or project management responsibilities.
This book will help you learn how to support projects effectively and
understand what you should expect from the professionals who run
projects you participate in or supervise. It will also serve as a reference manual
that will guide you on how to manage various aspects of your projects and
resolve issues that may arise during the project.
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Every project is unique and how the principles in this book are applied will
depend on several parameters including but not limited to the
product/service being developed, the size and scope of the project, the
funding and time constraints, and the chosen project methodology. While
the principles in this book apply in most cases, it’s important to note that
there is no “One Size Fits All”.
To make this book practical, I have reinforced the principles discussed with
examples and provided project management templates with explanations on
how to use them.
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Who Is This Book For? This book is useful for Business Owners who manage projects themselves but
do not have the requisite project management training or experience.
Managers and Executives who need to understand the role they must play
to ensure that projects under their purview are successful.
Project Team Members who are assigned to take part in project delivery and
need to understand project management fundamentals so they can
contribute effectively to the project.
Aspiring Project Managers including those who may already occupy middle
management positions and need to determine if developing extensive
project management skills will be beneficial to their current career or if the
project management career path is one that they want to tow.
New or Rookie Project Managers who have minimal hands-on experience
and need to improve their contribution to projects and better understand the
role of Managers and Executives in achieving project success.
You will learn:
To plan and execute projects successfully and to identify projects which you can manage yourself and those for which you need professional help.
To understand and use fundamental aspects of Project Management methodologies, principles and templates.
Practical tips on how to manage a real-life project.
To select and develop the best team to execute your projects.
How to recognize common causes of project failure and avoid them.
The importance of the role of Business Managers in enabling project success.
Note: In subsequent sections of the book, the word ”Managers” has been used
to refer to Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, Managers, and Executives since
they all have the primary responsibility of managing resources.
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Why do Entrepreneurs, Managers and Executives need Project
Management Skills? At various points during your career as a Manager, you may be required to
lead a change initiative. This may involve overseeing project managers
coordinating your projects or actually managing projects yourself.
A project may be too small to justify the cost of hiring a project manager and
knowledge of project management fundamentals improves the ability of
managers to manage projects efficiently and deliver projects successfully,
thus reducing project costs.
Most times, Managers act as subject matter experts and understand product
requirements, funding constraints, time to market urgency, the big picture,
impact of project outcomes on the company’s bottom lines etc. better than
those managing the project. It’s important for managers to communicate the
required information and support the project effectively throughout the
project duration. To do this, you need to understand the principles and
processes being used by Project Managers.
Managers need to:
• Estimate resources required realistically and allocate resources
efficiently so team members don’t burn out trying to achieve the
project scope within almost impossible timelines and budgets.
• Provide clear requirements and specifications for the product or service
being created.
• Help remove bottlenecks including those imposed
by organisational bureaucracy. It’s crucial that you are available or
delegate adequate authority to remove bottlenecks and resolve issues
quickly.
• Resolve conflict between the project team and business units and
between project team members.
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• Track project progress towards specified target completion dates,
milestones and objectives ensuring that reports provided by project
managers match actual project progress.
• Identify and manage risks in order to reduce uncertainties that
may cause project failure.
• Know when and how to initiate and close projects.
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Glossary Acronyms
SME: Small & Medium Scale Enterprise
PMI: Project Management Institute
PMBOK: Project Management Body of Knowledge
Definitions
Project A Temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product,
service, or result. PMI (2017)
Project Methodology A a set of guidelines, practices, techniques, and
procedures for managing a project.
Project Scope Defines the work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a
product or service with the specified deliverables, features, and
functions.” It defines the boundaries of the project. PMI (2017)
Stakeholder: “Individuals and organisations who are actively involved in the
project, or whose interests may be positively or negatively affected as a
result of project execution or successful project completion. PMI (2017). These
may include Customers, Employees, Investors, Suppliers/Vendors,
Communities, Government.
Deliverable A product or service that a project produces for and delivers to its
clients or stakeholders Roseke, B (2016, Nov)
Project Requirements Conditions that must be achieved to ensure
successful completion of the project. Raynor, G (2017, May)
Product Requirements: Details that describe a product or service, how it
should look, feel, function and work.
Quality The degree to which a product complies with specified requirements
(PMBasics101.com)
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Project Champion: A project advocate within the organization
implementing a project who motivates and inspires buy-in and generates
stakeholder and organisational support for the project to ensure successful
implementation.
Subject Matter Expert An individual with a deep knowledge and
understanding of a particular job, function, process, and/or technology.
Project Risk an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive or
negative effect on a project’s objective. PMI (2017)
Project Issue an unplanned event that occurs while executing a project that
may impair the successful completion of the project. This may include
technical, material, or human failures or shortages.
Lessons Learned Documented information that highlights the learning
gained from the process of performing the project. PMI (2017).
It reflects both the positive and negative experiences of a project and
identifies what needs to be improved. Rowe, S. F. & Sikes, S. (2006).
Matrix Organizations usually have two or more chains of command or
reporting lines. One along functional lines and the other along project,
product, client, or geographical lines. Project staff in Matrix Organizations
report to both their functional manager and to the project lead.
Stuckenbruck, L. C. (1979)
Resistance to Change Action taken by individuals and groups when they
perceive that a change that is proposed or occurring is a threat to them.
(ChangingMinds.com)
These actions may be active or passive, overt or covert, individual or
group, adhoc or organised
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Projects Versus Operations
Do I need a Project to Achieve this Objective?
Let’s start by understanding the difference between projects and operations.
Projects
PMI defines a Project as” a Temporary endeavour undertaken to create
a Unique product, service or result”. PMI(2017) PMBOK Guide, 6th ed.
Note two keywords – Temporary and Unique.
Unique assumes the objective is to create a new product or service that has
not existed before and thus, there are several uncertainties. The scope, time,
costs, and other inputs required to create this product can be estimated but
are uncertain, thus increasing the risk of not achieving the project objective
within the initial estimates defined at project commencement.
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Project details become clearer and estimates more accurate as the project
progresses. This is known as Progressive Elaboration.
Temporary assumes that projects have a beginning and an expected end.
Once the objective, product, or service for which the project was set up is
achieved, the project is closed or terminated. Usually, the product or result of
a project is phased into operations and is deployed to meet a Business Need
or Customer Requirement.
Operations
Operations are Routine, Ongoing Business Activities undertaken to sustain
the business. Operations are repetitive with defined procedures
utilising known inputs to achieve expected outputs. Inputs, costs and time
required to deliver the expected results are well known thus minimising risk.
Answering a few questions will help us determine if a project is required to
achieve an objective or create a product/service.
1. Have you created the same product/service before?
2. Are you certain about the procedure, inputs, and time required to
create the product?
From the definitions above, a project is required if you intend to create a new
product/service or change an existing product significantly and are uncertain
about the procedure, inputs, and time required to achieve the objective. This
ensures minimal disruption to existing business operations which are
presumably running smoothly and enables the assignment of a project team
to focus on delivering the required result successfully. If you have designed
and produced something very similar before, you may be able to tweak an
existing process. Note however, that even minor changes to a product or
service may be better achieved by a project team. After the required product
update is achieved, it is integrated into operations ensuring minimal
interference. Projects don’t have to be large or take a long time. The size of a
project depends on the desired objective or product to be created.
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Understanding The Project Management Life Cycle Model
It’s important to understand what is required to deliver a project and count
the cost before commencing. The Phases of the Project Management Life
Cycle defined by PMI provide the opportunity to carry out due diligence on
the business problem or opportunity to ensure that creating the proposed
product is indeed feasible. It also enables adequate planning before project
execution begins.
The 5 phases which are discussed below include Initiation, Planning,
Execution, Monitoring & Control and Closure.
Project Initiation Phase:
This is the formal start of the project. The project objective should be clearly
defined and a business case to justify why the project is required prepared.
Based on the business case and feasibility studies, project sponsors and other
decision-makers decide whether or not to proceed and commit resources to
the project.
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Project Planning Phase:
This involves creating a Project Management Plan that clearly describes how
all aspects of the project will be managed and identifies deliverables and
activities required to achieve the project objective. The plan serves as a
roadmap which sets out the steps required to achieve the desired outcome
and provides clarity for all stakeholders. Note that a time schedule showing
project activities/tasks and associated duration is not a Project Management
Plan. A Project Management Plan includes the following:
• Scope Statement
• Work Breakdown Structure
• Project Schedule
• Human Resource Management Plan
• Communication Management Plan
• Cost Management Plan
• Quality Management Plan
• Risk Management Plan
• Procurement Management Plan
The components of the Project Management Plan may be simple guidelines
or very detailed blue prints depending on the complexity of the project, the
resources available and the project management maturity of the
organization. Topic 7 discusses Project Planning in more detail.
Project Execution Phase:
During this Phase, project deliverables are developed in line with the Project
Plan. On some projects, to save time, the Initiation and Planning Phases are
omitted and the project commences with the Execution phase. This usually
results in ambiguous project objectives, undefined paths to achieve the
desired outcomes, poor estimates for time, funding and other resources
required to deliver the project successfully amongst a myriad of other issues.
Adequate planning leads to fewer issues during the execution phase.
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Benjamin Franklin’s popular quote “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” is Spot-
On regarding Project Management. Without a properly designed plan, the
project team may be attempting a journey to a “destination never travelled”
without a roadmap. Trivialising the Initiation and Planning Phases for any
project size, may result in dire consequences, including project failure.
Project Monitoring and Control Phase:
According to the PMBOK, “Project Monitoring and Control is performed to
observe project execution so that potential problems can be identified in a
timely manner and corrective action taken, when necessary”. This phase
which runs concurrently with the Execution Phase and involves monitoring
project progress, measuring project performance against the plan, ensures
that project implementation is within the approved scope, time and cost.
Variances between the plan and actual status are determined and corrective
measures implemented to keep the project on track.
Project Closure:
A project is usually closed after the project objectives are achieved and
deliverables are completed. However, a project may be closed when the
objectives and/or scope cannot be achieved within acceptable time, budget,
and quality constraints. Whatever the case, projects must be properly
closed and this involves handing over completed deliverables to the project
owners or end users, closing contracts with vendors, reassigning project team
members and carrying out a post mortem to highlight what worked well and
what did not. The post mortem ensures that mistakes are not repeated and
what worked well can be replicated in future projects.
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Building Efficient Project Teams
The Right Team is critical to the success of any project. When team members
cannot fulfil their assignments, there is a high probability that the project will
fail or the project result will be suboptimal.
In a nutshell, projects require someone to plan/coordinate project
implementation (Project Manager), someone to fund and champion the
project (Project Sponsor), Subject Matter Experts (Process/Product Experts)
and Technical Experts. Every project type requires certain project team roles.
For example, key roles required for construction projects include a Project
Sponsor, an Architect, a Civil/Structural Engineer, Mechanical/Electrical
Engineer, a Quantity Surveyor, a Project Manager and Subject Matter Experts
especially for specialty or commercial projects. Web App development
projects usually require a Project Manager, Subject Matter Experts, a Business
Analyst (to define process/product requirements), a Designer (for User
Interface/ Experience Design), a Developer, a Tester (for Quality Assurance)
and a Project Sponsor.
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While more than one role may be carried out by a single individual, it’s
important that the required skills are adequately represented in the project
team. Attempts to implement a construction project without an Architect to
document the client’s requirements and convert same to architectural
drawings, with expectations that the builders will discuss with the client,
make a few sketches and build, usually do not end well.
This may seem extreme, but there are several cases where Business Owners,
Managers, Executives have attempted to implement projects with teams that
were ill-equipped to deliver the expected project result. This usually results in
a lot of rework, loss of time, increased cost, and a poor quality product.
When we attempt to reduce cosets by utilising ill-equipped teams, we shoot
ourselves in the foot. There are rework costs, and they usually erode any
savings we attempt to make by cutting corners. We need to commit
funds, time, and the right skilled resources if we expect our projects to
succeed.
Below, I have suggested a few simple steps to resource projects efficiently.
Note that this is not exhaustive and there are definitely other ways to achieve
the same objective.
• Define the skills required for successful project delivery and outline the
roles and responsibilities of project team members. If you don’t have
the experience required to do this, it is wise to get help from a
professional who has managed or led a similar project.
• Onboard resources with the required skills and the right qualities to fit
the roles defined.
• If you do not have the required resources/skills in-house to implement
the project optimally, carefully outsource the role to an external service
provider. Thoroughly examine the vendor’s portfolio, samples,
professional certifications and speak to the vendor’s clients to ensure
that they have successfully completed similar work. Don’t make a
choice solely on price.
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• Explain role responsibilities and expectations to the people occupying
each role and ensure that they understand their role and how it
contributes to project success
• Empower project team members with the right tools required to
deliver exceptional results.
• Allow adequate time for team members to participate effectively in
projects. Don’t spread project team members thin and across several
competing responsibilities.
• As the project progresses and evolves, project team members may
require additional skills to work optimally. Provide opportunities for
knowledge improvement and skill development.
• Ensure that the project has the right Project Leadership or Sponsor.
Without the right leader championing the project, it will be prioritised
low by project team members and other stakeholders. Effort and
attention required for project success will be lacking. Inadequate
support from leadership is a leading cause of project failure.
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Every Project Needs an Effective Sponsor
The Project Sponsor is a person who provides resources and support for the
project and is accountable for enabling success. (PMBOK, 6th Edition). The
Project Sponsor acts as the project owner on behalf of the owner or
client organisation and has overall accountability for the project.
He provides the project vision, ensures that the project scope is aligned with
business objectives, and clarifies project success criteria. (Schibi, O & Lee, C
(2015). He ensures adequate funding, efficient resource allocation, and
establishes the priority of the project within the organisation.
He champions the project and ensures buy-in from relevant stakeholders. He
provides final approval of project deliverables and integrates them into the
owner organization. (Hartney, J (2016) It is important to note that the Sponsor
is not responsible for the daily management of the project. That is the Project
Managers’ role. Effective project sponsorship is required for projects to be
successful and ineffective sponsorship ranks very high amongst the reasons
for project failure. Irrespective of whether the sponsor is the Owner-Manager
of an SME or an Executive in a large corporation, project sponsors
must participate actively and visibly throughout the project duration, not only
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early in the project, otherwise project team and stakeholder support for the
project will diminish over time (Hiatt, 2006).
Project sponsors must be credible and senior enough to maintain the
required influence with project team members and stakeholders. It’s
important that Project Sponsors understand that delegating sponsorship
to lower-level managers who do not have the requisite influence usually leads
to reduced buy-in, increased resistance to change, and may undermine
project progress.
A project with ineffective sponsorship sets the project up to fail because it will
lack the funding, resources and prioritisation by management and project
team members required to enable project success.
A Project Sponsor Must:
• Be perceived as credible and competent
• Empower the project manager to make decisions so as to prevent
authorisation delays which hinder project progress.
• Ensure that timelines and costs allowed for project delivery are realistic,
agreed with the project team and sufficient to complete the
deliverables. When project teams do not contribute to timeline
estimates or agree with timelines allocated to tasks, timelines may be
unrealistic and it is unlikely that schedule targets will be achieved.
• Ensure that project team members are not stretched thin amongst
multiple projects.
• Remove roadblocks and protect project team from distractions (Schibi,
O & Lee, C (2015). Especially in Matrix organisations, where project team
members may report to managers who are not directly involved with
the project, it is important to ensure that managers prioritise the project
as established by the project sponsor and project team members are
allowed to focus on the project as required.
• Facilitate effective conflict resolution for project teams and
stakeholders.
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