Project Management: Choosing the Right Tools and Approach#13NTCTools

Peter Campbell

Project Management 1

What Is A Project?

Slide 2Project Management Picture: Laurensvanlieshout from nl

Project Factors

• Distinctness – Is it a change from your routine tasks?

• Scope – Is it ambitious or important enough to track?

• Duration - Will it be done before the plan is written down?

• Complexity - Is this simple enough to trust that it can be done without oversight?

• Budget - Is the cost inconsequential?

• Impact – Will anyone notice when the project is completed?

Project Management 3

What Does A Project Plan Do For You?

• Summarizes an initiative’s goals• Sets scope, milestones and schedule• Keeps multiple parties on task• Identifies pre-requisites and risks• Manages workloads• Provides marketing data

Project Management 4

What Does A Project Plan Fail To Do?

• Go as planned• Keep anyone on task• Do the job for you• Communicate

Project Management 5

Communication

• “90% of a Project Managers time is spent communicating”

– Project Management Institute

• “And the remaining 10% is spent communicating”

– Jeff Herron, Beaconfire

Project Management 6

Communication Styles

• Agreement on communication protocols can greatly support a project’s success

• All the same, a great Project Manager understands and adapts to the team’s individual styles

– Traits of a Successful Project Manager – Beaconfire Blog

• In addition to the project plan, large projects also benefit from communications plans

Project Management 7

Waterfall

Project Management 8

Waterfall

• Traditional Project Management methodology

• Focuses on plan, dependencies, resource allocation

• Deadline driven• Best for large, structured projects with

clearly defined outcomes– Construction, Bridges

Project Management 9

Work-Breakdown Structure

• A work-breakdown structure makes a project manageable by iteratively identifying the subprojects that make up the whole project

Project Management 10

Project Charter

• Short description of the project and it’s goals• Must effectively communicate why the effort

is being taken• Best to have three or four high-level goals• Make them your mantra!

Project Management 11

Work-Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Draft project summary• Break into subprojects

– Tip: look at each deliverable as a subproject• Iterate until manageable• Assign tasks• Define relationships ( Identify predecessors)• Assign dates and milestones

Project Management 12

WBS Example

• Project: Replace Email Marketing System– Sub 1 Deliverable: Requirements Gathered

• Tasks: Discuss needs, prep requirements doc

– Sub 2 Deliverable: Suitable Replacements IDed• Tasks: Research, evaluation

– Sub 3 Deliverable: Product Decided On• Tasks: schedule demos, view demos, decide

– Sub 4 Deliverable: Product Purchased• Tasks: Negotiate contract…

Project Management 13

Dates, Deliverables and Dependencies

• Deliverables– components of the project that are produced– measurable

• Dependencies – Pre-requisites– Key to tracking and adjusting to project delays

• Dates– Targets that can be adjusted as plans change

Project Management 14Picture by Claude Covo-Farchi

Sample Plan

Project Management 15

RACI Matrixes

• RACI is an acronym for:– Responsible

• Those who perform the project tasks

– Accountable• Those who approve the project work

– Consulted• Those who advise on the project

– Informed• Those who are reported to on project status

Project Management 16

Allocating Resources

• Time and effort allocations are ambitious– Identify project vs general duty hours– Consider tracking time

• Task Labor = Effort / Employees– If it takes 80 hours to input the legacy data

into the system, and two people are assigned

– Effort = 40 hours for each person.

Project Management 17

GANTT Charts

Project Management 18

Agile

Project Management 19

Agile

• Modern approach• Prioritizes communication, constant review,

collaboration• Highly adaptable timeline• Best for opportunistic projects with flexible

outcomes:– Software applications, web sites, some campaigns

Project Management 20

12 Principles of Agile DevelopmentPer Kent Beck, source: Wikipedia•Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software•Welcome changing requirements, even late in development•Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)•Working software is the principal measure of progress•Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace•Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers•Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-location)•Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted•Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design•Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential•Self-organizing teams•Regular adaptation to changing circumstances

Project Management 21

Kanban

Project Management 22Picture by Jeff.lasovski

SCRUM

• Is not an acronym, so give it up!• Is a project planning methodology• Iterative and incremental• Incorporates frequent feedback loops btw:

– Product Owner/Customer– Development Team– Scrum Master (Servant/Leader)

• Gives decision-making authority to developersProject Management 23

Sprints

• Coding Sprints meet short term objectives in a SCRUM environment

• A SCRUM board will list the issues to be addressed by the sprint

• A Burndown chart will track the progress as issues are checked off.

Project Management 24

Issue Lists

• For agile projects, issue lists contain all of the items to be addressed.

• Issue lists are rapidly modified as issues are added and marked off.

Project Management 25

Project Management 26

Tools

Microsoft Project

• Grandaddy of Waterfall Planning Tools• Optimal for building bridges, planning the

Olympics• Much improved in 2010 version, but still

suffers from poor collaboration• Project Server is collaborative product

– Requires Sharepoint + Project ($$$)

Project Management 27

Salesforce

• Dream Team – waterfall, NPO discounts• Milestones PM – Popular free task

management• Do – Salesforce’s free task management• Lots more here:

– https://appexchange.salesforce.com/category/project-management

Project Management 28

Sharepoint

• 2013 has many of the basic PM features built-in:– Task lists, wikis, document management,

calendars, social networking• Relatively inexpensive (TechSoup)• Requires lots of hardware, though• Difficult licensing for external parties

Project Management 29

Jira

• Powerful, flexible task and issue management

• Free for Nonprofits• Integrates w/Confluence Wiki and

Greenhopper Agile PM tool• Highly extensible• SQL-based macros! (I’m a geek, I admit it)

Project Management 30

Basecamp

• Cloud-based agile tool• Elegantly simple web task management• Strong calendaring and email integration

Project Management 31

GANTTProject

• Cross-platform (JAVA) tool for creating GANNT Charts

• Mini-MS Project, if you want• Imports/exports to spreadsheet, graphics,

Project

– http://www.ganttproject.biz/

Project Management 32

What else?

Project Management 33

That’s It!

Project Management 34

Evaluate This Session!Enter for a chance to win an NTEN engraved mini iPad! 

Search by session title at www.nten.org/ntc/eval