Project Plnning Skills - Assignment Example

RUNNING HEAD: PROJECT PLNNING SKILLS Project Plnning Skills of th of th of th ProjectPlnning Skills Introduction Th kill of mnagement of th project are eential for all th project mnager, nd ny othr director who control complex activitie nd tak, becaue th complex tak are project. Th qualification of mnagement of th project are eential for ny complex tak, where th variou reult are poible, requiring plnning nd evaluating option, nd orgnizing activitie nd reource to provide a reult. Th project come in all th form nd face, of mall nd frnkly extremely with large nd trongly complex. (Charette, 2006, 21) Th mnagement of th project cn be concerned by nything: people, product, ervice, material, production, HIM nd communication, factorie nd equipment, torage, ditribution, logitic, building nd place, peronnel nd mnagement, finnce, adminitration, acquiition, invetment withdrawal, purchae, ale, being old, th development of marketing, humn reource, formation, culture, ervice to th cutomer nd new of relation, quality, health nd afety, legal, technical nd cientific product, new development of th buinee; nd in ny combination. (Charette, 2006, 21) Th generic kill of Project Plnning Th mnagement of th project, for all th large or mall project, hould follow thi imple proce: Proce of mnagement of th project 1. Be appropriate th precie pecification for th project. 2. Enviage th project - time, team, activitie, reource, nd finnce. 3. Communicate th pln of project to your team reponible for th project. 4. Be appropriate nd delegate th action of project. 5. Control, motivate, inform, encourage, nd allow th team reponible for th project. 6. Control, meaurement, progre of project of review; adjut th pln of project, nd inform th team reponible for th project nd othr. 7. Achieve th project; review nd report/ratio on th implementation of project; give th praie nd mercie to th team reponible for th project. Agree precie pecification for th project With often called th project of competence, th pecification of project hould be a precie decription of what th project aim at carrying out, nd th criteria nd flexibility implied, it parameter, rnge, rnge, exit, ource, (Kameny, 2006, 115) participnt, budget nd calendar (take guard - to ee th note enviaging approximately calendar below). Uually th project mnager mut conult with othr nd thn agree th pecification of project with uperior, or competent authoritie. Th pecification cn imply everal outline before it i agreed. Specification of project are eential becaue thy create a meaurable reponibility for no matter whom who contntly wihe to evaluate how th project goe, or it ucce on th achievement. (Audrey, 2007, 12) Competence of project alo provide n eential dicipline nd a framework to keep th project on th way, nd concerned with th original objective nd agreed parameter. Correctly formulated nd agreed pecification of project alo protect th project mnager againt being held to explain th exit which are apart from th rnge original of th project or independent of th project mnager. It i th tage to agree of th pecial condition or th exception with thoe in th authority. Once you th 'VE publih competence you created a very firm whole of hope by which you will be judged. Thu if you have concern, or wnt to renegotiate, now ' th hour to do it. More th great project cn need everal week to produce nd be appropriate of competence of project. (Joyce, 2007, 13) Th majority of th normal project of buinee however have need for a few day thinking nd conulting to produce uitable pecification of project. Th etablihment nd th agreement of th pecification of project are n importnt proce even if your tak i th imple one. A template for a project pecification: 1. Decribe purpoe, aim nd deliverable. 2. State parameter (timecale, budget, rnge, cope, territory, authority). 3. State people involved nd th way th team will work (frequency of meeting, deciion-making proce). 4. Etablih 'break-point' at which to review nd check progre, nd how progre nd reult will be meaured. Pln th project Enviage th variou tage nd activitie of th project. A ueful end i to work toward th back of th goal of end, identifying all th thing which mut be intallation nd made, with back th order. Initially, meninx tir up it (imply noting idea nd point rndomly), will help to collect th majority of th point nd th exit. For complex project, or when you mi experiment of th exit, comprie othr in th proce of meeting of reflexion. Thn putting th end in th good order, nd drawing up relationhip nd bond between each exit. Th complex project will have a certain number activitie to function in parallel. Some part of th project will have of othr accomplihed part of th being project before thy cn tart or progre. Some project will require a tage of feaibility before th achievement of a detailed pln. Project Timecale Mot project come in late - that' jut th way it i - o don't pln a timecale that i over-ambitiou. Ideally pln for ome lippage. (Funtowicz, 2006, 95) If you have been given n fixed deadline, pln to meet it earlier, nd work back from that earlier date. Build ome lippage or leeway into each phae of th project. Err on th ide of caution where you cn. Othrwie you'll be making a rod for your own back. Th Project Team nothr importnt part of th plnning tage i picking your team. Take great care, epecially if you have team-member impoed on you by th project brief. Selecting nd gaining commitment from th bet team member - whethr directly employed, freelnce, contractor, upplier, conultnt or othr partner - i crucial to th quality of th project, nd th eae with which you are able to mnage it. Generally try to etablih your team a oon a poible. Identifying or appointing one or two people even during th term of reference tage i poible ometime. (Funtowicz, 2006, 95) Appointing th team early maximize thir ownerhip nd buy-in to th project, nd maximize what thy cn contribute. But be very wary of appointing people before you are ure how good thy are, nd not until thy have committed thmelve to th project upon term that are clearly undertood nd acceptable. Don't imagine that team need to be full of paid nd official project team member. Some of th mot valuable team member are informal advior, mentor, helper, who wnt nothing othr thn to be involved nd a few word of thnk. Project mnagement on a tight budget cn be a lonely buine - get ome help from good people you cn trut, whatever th budget. (Agunno, 2005, 14) To pln nd mnage large complex project with variou parallel nd dependent activitie you will need to put togethr a 'Critical Path nalyi' nd a preadheet on MS Excel or equivalent. Critical Path nalyi will how you th order in which tak mut be performed, nd th relative importnce of tak. Some tak cn appear mall nd inignificnt when thy might actually be hugely influential in enabling much bigger activitie to proceed or give bet reult. A Gntt chart i a ueful way of howing block of activitie over time nd at a given cot nd for mnaging th project nd it cot along th way. Variou project mnagement oftware i available, much of which i ueful, but before trying it you hould undertnd nd concentrate on developing th pure project mnagement kill, which are decribed in thi proce. Th bet oftware in th world will not help you if you cn't do th key thing. (Kerzner, 2003, 66) Th project 'critical path nalyi' 'Critical Path nalyi' ound very complicated, but it' a very logical nd effective method for plnning nd mnaging complex project. Thi i how to create a critical path nalyi. A n example, th project i a imple one - making a fried breakfat. Firt note down all th iue (reource nd activitie in a rough order): Aemble crockery nd utenil, (Kerzner, 2003, 66) aemble ingredient, prepare equipment, make toat, fry auage nd egg, grill bacon nd tomatoe, lay table, warm plate, erve. Note that ome of the activitie mut happen in parallel. That i to ay, if you tried to make a fried breakfat by doing one tak at a time, nd one after th othr, thing would go wrong. Certain tak mut be tarted before othr, nd certain tak mut be completed in order for othr to begin. Th plate need to be warming while othr activitie are going on. Th toat need to be toating while th auage are frying, nd at th ame time th bacon nd auage are under th grill. Th egg need to be fried lat. A critical path nalyi i a diagrammatical repreentation of what need done nd when. Timecale nd cot cn be applied to each activity nd reource. Here' th critical path nalyi for making a fried breakfat: Thi critical path nalyi example below how jut a few activitie over a few minute. Normal buine project would ee th nalyi extending everal time wider thn thi example, nd th time line would be baed on week or month. It i poible to ue MS Excel or a imilar preadheet to create a critical path nalyi, which allow finncial total nd time total to be plnned nd tracked. Variou pecialized project mnagement oftware enable th ame thing. (Kerzner, 2003, 66) Beware however of pending week on th intricacie of computer modeling, when in th early tage epecially, a carefully hnd drawn diagram - which require no computer training at all - cn put 90% of th thinking nd tructure in place. (See th detail about th mot incredible plnning nd communication tool ever invented, nd available for jut a tiny fraction of th price of all th alternative.) Gntt Chart Gntt Chart are extremely ueful project mnagement tool. You cn contruct a Gntt Chart uing MSExcel or a imilar preadheet. Every activity ha a eparate line. Create a time-line for th duration of th project (th breakfat example how minute, but normally you'd ue week, or for very big long-term project, month). You cn colour code th time block to denote type of activity (eg intene, watching brief, directly mnaged, delegated nd left to run, etc.) You cn chedule review nd break point. At th end of each line you cn how a mny cot column for th activitie a you need. Th breakfat example how jut th capital cot of th conumable item nd a revenue cot for labour nd fuel. A Gntt chart like thi cn be ued to keep track of progre for each activity nd how th cot are running. (Kerzner, 2003, 66) You cn move th time block around to report on actual veru plnned, nd to re-chedule, nd to create new pln update. Cot column cn how pln nd actual nd varince, nd calculate whatever total, average, ratio, etc you need. Gntt Chart are th mot flexible nd ueful of all project mnagement tool, but remember thy do not how th importnce nd inter-dependence of related parallel activitie, nd thy won't how th neceity to complete one tak before nothr cn begin, a a critical path nalyi will do, o you need both tool, epecially at th plnning tage. Project Finncial Plnning nd Reporting For project involving more thn petty cah you'll need a preadheet to pln nd report plnned nd actual expenditure. Ue MSExcel or imilar. If you don't know how to put togethr a baic finncial pln, get ome help from omeone who doe, nd make ure you bring a good friendly, flexible finncial peron into your team - it' a key function of project mnagement, nd if you cn't mnage th finncial procee your elf you need to be able to rely completely on whoever doe it for you. (Charette, 2006, 21) Th preadheet mut enable you to pln, adminiter nd report th detailed finnce of your project. Create a cot line for main expenditure activity, nd break thi down into individual element. Create a ytem for allocating incoming invoice to th correct activitie (your bought-ledger people won't know unle you tell thm), nd howing when th cot hit th project account. Etablih clear payment term with all upplier nd tick to thm. Project develop problem when team member get diatified; ret aured, non- or late-payment i a primary caue of diatifaction. Concluion In concluion it i clear that Project Plnning kill are th ame for all th project nd before tarting on th project th generic kill of Project Plnning cn be applied. Major characteritic of a project are etablihed objective, defined life pn with a beginning nd end, Acro-orgnizational participation, new or unique, pecific time, cot nd performnce requirement. Each nd every project ha Contraint like Scope, Time, nd Cot. Each nd every project ha tarting nd ending time, cot nd othr mnagement function involved in project to make ucceful or failure. Project mnagement i th application of knowledge, kill, tool nd technique to project activitie to meet project requirement. Thi all over report decribed that Th generic kill of Project Plnning cn be applied to ny project which make th ucceful project. References Charette R, 2006, Applications Strategies for Risk nalysis, McGraw-Hill, New York, Pp 21-65 Kameny I., U, Khn, J, Paul, D. Taylor, 2006 Guide for th Mnagement of Expert Systems Development, Rnd, Pp 115-245 Audrey J. Dorofee, Julie A. Walker, Ray C. Williams, 2007, "Risk Mnagement in Practice", Crosstalk, pp. 8-12. Joyce Statz, Don Oxley, Patrick O'Toole, 2007, "Identifying nd Mnaging Risks for Software Process Improvement", Crosstalk, pp. 13-18. Funtowicz S. nd J. Ravetz, 2006 "Project Mnagement as a Post normal Science", Risk nalysis, pp. 95-97 Agunno, Kevin (2005). Mnaging Agile Projects. Oshawa, ON: Multi-Media Publications Inc. Pp 14-74 Kerzner, Harold (2003). Project Mnagement: A Systems Approach to Plnning, Scheduling, nd Controlling, 8th Ed., Wiley Appendix Figure 1 Figure 2 Read More