Project Management Made Easy

For years, many have considered project management to be difficult to learn and understand. When I was first introduced to project management, I found the concept difficult to manage. So I compiled all of the tools that I've used over the years in this Body of Knowledge to share. These are some of the project office tools that I have used to make Project Management easy.

Work changes have outdated most management skills…

The world of work is being so dramatically redefined by enterprise and government that our present skills of managing and leading are mostly ineffective, and often counterproductive. What worked in the past no longer does. Something very basic has changed.

We work now in a world of information and knowledge…

You and everyone else are gaining unlimited access to unlimited information. We are all learning to apply our new knowledge, and we are seeking the freedom to innovate. We expect work of meaning and purpose that makes full use of our creativity and imagination, that unleashes the human spirit at work. The working world and the nature of organizations are being transformed. We are all caught up in the changes.

New leadership skills beyond the old are required…

We can change with the times or be left out. Those who choose to change will need new skills that few managers and leaders now have. These skills must be learned, and can only be learned by actual experience and practice. That takes time.

You can experience new ways to learn…

These tools are specifically designed for managers and leaders who decide to sharpen their
competitive edge and stay in the game.

Sample/Example of Project Network Diagram

Managing by Project

Increasingly, work is done by short-lived, real-time, project specific
teams. As the core of an organization shrinks, better use must be made
of the resources that remain and of the growing numbers of
contractors, temporaries, and part timers.
The complex resource management challenges that result are
natural applications for project management skills.
Project management skills apply to all of our work. They facilitate any activity comprised of defined interrelated tasks
that must be completed on time and within budget, while
meeting specified customer requirements.

Project Planning Checklist

Standard Planning Checklist

Project Manager

[name]

Risk Management
q	The project team has invested time and energy into identifying all project risks-internal kick off.
q	A risk response strategy has been developed for all risks that have a significant impact or probability.
q	Weekly internal and external meetings have been established with the teams to continually look for risks.
q	Escalation plans are reviewed to ensure risks are communicated throughout Client Operations departments.
q	A project workbook has been developed to manage known risks and is accessible to all project team members.
q	Every risk in the log has someone responsible for managing it.
q	There is a plan in place for continuously identifying and responding to new risks.

Work Breakdown Structure
q	Tasks have been identified to produce every deliverable in the statement of work.
q	The work breakdown structure for the project is consistent with templates for similar projects.
q	The project team participated in building the WBS and has reviewed and approved it.
q	Every task on the WBS has a strong, descriptive name that includes a noun and a verb.
q	Every task on the WBS has a beginning, an end, and clear completion criteria.
q	Project management tasks are included on the WBS.
q	Tasks have been broken down to a level that enables clear responsibility to be assigned.
q	The WBS follows the rules for creating a top-down decomposition.
q	The structure of the WBS has been evaluated to ensure the summary tasks are meaningful to stakeholders that require high-level understanding of the project.

Task Sequence
q	All work packages have predecessor tasks identified and task relationships are illustrated using a network diagram.
q	The team has reviewed all predecessor-successor relationships to ensure there are none missing and that none of the relationships are unnecessary.

Scheduling
q	Critical path analysis has been performed to identify critical path tasks and schedule float.
q	Resource leveling has been applied to ensure the schedule represents a realistic allocation of personnel and other resources.
q	The schedule is based on realistic assumptions about the availability of project personnel.
q	Portions of the schedule that contain many concurrent tasks have been evaluated for risk.
q	The cost-schedule-quality equilibrium is realistic and acceptable to the customer.

Approvals
q	The detailed action plan has been presented and approved.