Key Elements to Project Management

In this post I will go over some key elements of project management. Some of these elements might be obvious to you but recognizing these points and addressing them are part of the project management process.

Governance – Structure, process, and model where a set of metrics are used to ensure projects selected are aligned with the organization/business objectives.  The project governance includes:

• Establishing the metrics – this can be in the form of objectives or goals the department/organization needs to meet including the approval and measurement process. Define roles (stakeholders, leadership, customers), policies, standards and any associated process.
• Define – define the scope, budget,value, benefit, and timeline.
• Evaluation – process where proposed projects are assessed and selected on basis for best investment of funds, resource, meeting business objectives, and are with in the organization capacity to deliver.
• Measure – overall project status in the area of benefits, value, outcomes/output -actual vs plan

Alignment – Projects address the business objectives or goals defined by stakeholders or senior management.

Management – accountability process to ensure the project is progressing according to plan and communicate the project status to stakeholders/customers

Scheduling – project management tools are used to design a detailed  project plan of a project from initiation to closing. Tasks in the project plan can be based on a specific order, priority, resource availability, milestones, and/or budget.

• Define - define your project elements (tasks, resources, budget, duration, milestones, dependencies, etc)
  • What tasks need to be completed?
  • What are the tasks duration?
  • What resource will work on the task (take in to account their availability)?
  • Any risks that could interfere with the task/resource schedule?
  • Identify project dependencies and plan accordingly.
• Application/Tool – Use a project management tool to assist you in creating your plan. Some of these tools are:
  • Basecamp
  • Clarizen
  • Daptiv
  • Easy Projects .NET
  • Genius Inside
  • Journyx
  • Merlin
  • MS Office Project Server
  • Primavera Project Planner
  • Project.NET
  • Project-Open etc
• Plan - create your project plan with a small degree of flexibility (given rule is usually around 20%)
• Review – go back to your project plan and make sure that you are on schedule

Architecture – design the overall solution of the project – this can be done in two approaches: break down your project into to small modules that are cohesive and as much as possible independent from each other or the the project is one big module on its own.

Integration – ensure modules fit together to produce the final product.

Verify and Validate – review and assess the project is in accordance to specification and meets the business goals/objectives

• Verify - an act to make sure something does as it was intended to do (defined)
• Validate – an act to make sure something is ‘right’ or not. This ‘right’ is subjective to the user’s need and desire.

Finance – track all costs and make sure the project is within pre-defined budget

Post Mortem Analysis - ‘Lessons Learned’ exercise where team members sit down and review the project’s process from initialization to closing and address key issues of concern.

Any key project management elements you would like to add to this list? I will be writing some more posts on project management including sharing some great finds.