Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results

Project Management Essentials

Info-Tech Research Group

Introduction
Effective project management is critical to ensure that the results meet stakeholder expectations, yet organizations resist project management due to the perception that it must be complex and require excessive effort and expense. Clear success criteria, strong soft skills, a focus on resource planning, and an active approach to project management are more important than formalized frameworks, certified project managers or complex software. This solution set will help you: 1. Understand the Project Management Essentials. 2. Implement the essentials to improve project success rate. 3. Provide tools and templates for successful project planning, monitoring, and communication.

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Executive Summary
Projects can be managed effectively by following these basic guidelines:
Establish specific success criteria to meet stakeholder expectations, control project scope, and identify clear testing objectives. Assign project management to an individual with the qualities needed to drive the project: commitment to success, strong interpersonal skills, and ability to influence. Also, clarify authority and escalation path to enable timely decision making. Focus the project plan on major activities and resource requirements to ensure a manageable plan with clear timelines. Actively manage the project to detect and resolve problems early, maintain commitment to meeting dates, and manage resources effectively.

Review the project upon completion to evaluate project success and lessons learned for future projects. For complex projects, more robust resource and scheduling tools and a fulltime project manager may be required, but the above basic guidelines still apply.
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Info-Tech Research Reveals That Project Management is a Struggle for Most Organizations
Most projects fail to meet management and stakeholder expectations. The low success rate in adherence to scope implies that scope creep occurs frequently in projects. Less than 15% of organizations were successful at executing projects on time, on budget and on scope simultaneously over the last two years.
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Success**

Most Projects Have Low Success Rates

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40%
Adherence to Scope Management Quality of Deliverables Satisfaction

Stakeholder's Projects are on Budget Projects are on Time Satisfaction

30% 20% 20% 30% 40% 50%

60% Importance*

70%

80%

90%

100%

*Importance measurement is based on the % of respondents who indicated that the given metric was important. **Success measurement is based on the % of respondents who indicated that they were successful at the given metric.

Project Management
The Essentials Establish Success Criteria
Identify: Stakeholder expectations Scope boundaries Testing objectives

Look for:

Assign Project Manager Role

Develop the Plan

Focus on:

Manage Progress
Promote:

Commitment to success Communication and soft skills Ability to influence

Major activities Commitment to key target Resource dates requirements Early problem Clear timelines detection and resolution Better resource management

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A Project Example
This report uses the following example to illustrate project management essentials:
The accounting department has requested that the IT department deploy an application called Trackit. Trackit is intended to allow management to understand how much staff time is spent on a number of specific accounting activities such as purchasing, invoice payment, billing, budgeting and so on. Management wants to begin time tracking in Q2 to facilitate resource reallocation at the end of Q3.

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Establish Success Criteria

Establish Success Criteria

Identify: Stakeholder expectations Scope boundaries Testing objectives

Assign Project Manager Role

Develop the Plan

Manage Progress

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Establish Concrete Success Criteria to Keep the Project Focused

Less than 40% of projects satisfy both management and stakeholders.
Improve the chances for success by getting agreement on measurable success criteria. Goal Required Action Trackit Example
Meet All Stakeholder Expectations Identify required functionality, timing and cost parameters. Managers of Procurement, Billing and Budgeting agree on data to be recorded. Report content identified. Implement by June 1st.

Control Scope Expansion

Establish features needed for Ability to edit timesheet included in requested functionality, and scope. exclude all others. Request for additional reports moved to a future project. Determine performance, capacity, and functionality requirements. Support up to 100 staff at the main office. Available during normal working hours. Less than a half-day downtime per month.

Establish Testing Objectives

Info-Tech Insight: When project objectives conflict, make decisions based on success criteria first, then scope, then timing, and then budget.

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Assign Project Manager Role

Establish Success Criteria

Look for:

Assign Project Manager Role

Develop the Plan

Manage Progress

Commitment to success Communication and soft skills Ability to influence

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Organizations Identify Project Managers Soft Skills as More Important Than Process and Control
Communication, leadership, people management, and ability to influence are rated much higher than PM process and technical knowledge. On average, less than 40% of organizations are very satisfied with these skills in their project managers.
Importance and Satisfaction of PM Skills
100% 90% 80%
Satisfaction**

70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 20%

PM process know ledge Ability to influence stakeholders Communication People management Technical know ledge Problem solving Business know ledge Leadership Ability to multitask

The single most important thing I want to put forward is that project management is not just about process and control. If you dont have people skills in order to get everybody on the same page and working towards the same goal, the project isnt successful. Applications Manager, Recreation Services
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30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

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Importance* *Importance measurement is based on the % of respondents who indicated that the given skill was important.

**Satisfaction measurement is based on the % of respondents who indicated that they were satisfied with their project managers given skill. 10

Assign a Project Manager Who is Committed to Success and has the Soft Skills to Drive the Project
Criteria Description Trackit Example
Project manager role is assigned to Mary. Mary is the technical analyst who helped the accounting group select Trackit out of a long list of options in less than a month.

Commitment to Affinity with the groups to Success be impacted. Often goes beyond expectations.

Communication Keeps management up-to- Mary collaborated with co-workers during Skills date; no surprises. the product assessment phase. Enjoys teamwork. Mary shared her assessments with the IT and accounting managers in concise reports. Influencing Skills Makes recommendations Mary helped the accounting group agree that are usually accepted. on Trackit, even though the manager initially preferred another candidate.

Info-Tech Insight: Someone with a vested interest in the outcome in this case study, the person who recommended the tool is more likely to take personal responsibility for driving the project to a successful conclusion.
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Clarify the Project Managers Authority and Escalation Path to Enable Timely Decision Making
Role
Project Manager

Recommended Responsibility
Requisition resources. Manage assigned staff. Adjust the plan activities and timing as needed to meet milestones. Assign IT resources. Assign subject matter experts and testers. Approve minor changes to scope.

IT Sponsor Business Sponsor

Executive Stakeholder Approve changes to success criteria, scope, milestone dates and costs.

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Develop the Plan

Establish Success Criteria

Assign Project Manager Role

Develop the Plan

Focus on: Major activities Resource requirements Clear timelines

Manage Progress

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Develop a Project Plan That Aligns Major Activities, Resource Requirements, and Project Timelines
The first way is not always the best way. Consider alternative approaches that make better use of resources or reduce project risks. Consider More Than One Approach Adjust the Plan Determine Major Activities Assess Resource and Timing Risks

Identify Required Resources Investigate Resource Availability

Identify Resource/Timing Options

Build in Contingencies

Create 2 to 3 Timeline Options

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Refine Selected Project Plan

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Focus on Major Activities to Produce a Lean Plan That Can Be Managed More Efficiently
Recommendation
Group Related Tasks

Why This Matters

Trackit Example

Keeps the plan lean. Installation of software by a technician defined as one task. Reduces plan maintenance and tracking time. Minimizes strain on Move request to develop additional resources. reports to a future project. Keeps the focus on critical activities. Enables accurate progress Completion of install software tracking. task can be verified. Determines activity order and possible resource conflicts. Software installation cannot begin until server available. Server delivery defined as a task.

Eliminate Nice-toHave Tasks

Assign a Specific Deliverable for Each Activity Account for Dependencies

Info-Tech Insight:

Breaking down activities into more granular tasks unnecessarily increases PM overhead, taking time away from more important tasks such as managing resources, resolving issues, and mitigating risks.
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Resource Availability is the Number One Project RiskPlan Resources Early and Build in Contingencies
Typical Resource Risk
Technical resources may be pulled to fix critical issues

How to Minimize Risk

Schedule their tasks as early as possible to allow for time off project. Reflect likely availability when planning resources. Have a backup person on the team. Establish availability, treat it as fixed to avoid conflicts, and drive dependencies to ensure they can start work when they are available.

Trackit Example
The software installation technician, Gary, is available only three days a week because he generally spends two days fixing production problems. Deb is Garys backup. The three accounting clerks assigned have scheduled 1 to 2 oclock each day when they are to be available for the project.

Business subject matter experts support several projects Vendors are not in your direct line of control

Info-Tech Dont focus just on internal resources. Failure to anticipate vendor risks can sink you.
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Talk to vendors to establish their dependencies and risks. Dont make assumptions for vendors. Insight:

One week is scheduled for server delivery, as recommended by the vendor.

Establish a Timeline That Includes Realistic Milestones, Target Dates, and Contingency Time for Testing
Timeline Elements
Fixed Dates

Required Action
Distinguish between imposed dates, such as customer commitments versus moveable dates, such as QA end time. Schedule at least one deliverable per week to assess progress.

Trackit Example
Facilities booked to train staff May 24th a fixed date in the plan to meet management requirement to begin data collection June 1st .

Weekly Targets

The server is scheduled to arrive in week two of the project. The Order Server and Track Delivery task deliverable is a written status update from the vendor confirming the delivery date is still on track. System testing starts right after software installation. User testing starts four weeks before the planned activation date. Two-weeks of contingency time is scheduled after user testing rather than padding the server setup and install tasks.
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Testing and Contingency Time

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Start QA testing at project midpoint. Start user testing at 3/4 mark. Add padding to the end of the project (rather than to individual tasks) to provide overall timeline flexibility.

Combine Activities, Resources, and Timelines in One Tool for Easy Maintenance and Review
Use the ITA Premium Project Planning and Monitoring Tool to:

Identify resources and their availability. Organize activities, taking into account dependencies and key target dates. Track task completion. Generate accurate and easyto-read visual reports.

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Create a Communication Plan to Keep the Project Team on Track and Inform Management of Progress
Keep the team informed through in-person communication. Dont let Im out of the loop be an excuse for missing target dates.
Critical Communications
Project Kick-Off Meeting Weekly Project Team Meetings Meeting Summaries Status Updates to Management

Purpose
Establish responsibilities and introduce the project plan. Communicate project changes and resolve issues. Document decisions and action items. Keep management informed of the timeline and risks. Note that managers are busy. Get agreement on how they want to receive updates, and how frequently. Involve the right decision makers to resolve issues.

Escalation Path

Info-Tech Insight: People are more likely to divulge issues one-on-one. Maintain open communications with your team to know the real status of the project.
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Manage Progress and Update the Plan

Establish Success Criteria

Assign Project Manager Role

Develop the Plan

Manage Progress
Promote: Commitment to key target dates Early problem detection and resolution Better resource management

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Actively Managing Progress is Necessary to Drive the Project to Completion

Recording status and providing reports is not enough. The project manager must:
Talk to the team, in-person, to explain the project plan and assign responsibilities to avoid misunderstandings and promote accountability. Meet regularly with the project team to track progress, discuss project changes, and resolve issues. Update the plan to reflect current status, adjust to project changes, and mitigate anticipated risks. Communicate decisions, risks, and upcoming key dates. Keep management informed of project changes, risks, and timelines.

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Use the Kickoff Meeting to Establish Responsibilities and Introduce the Project Plan
Use the Info-Tech Project Kick-off Meeting Agenda Template to:

Run an efficient focused meeting. Outline project objectives and responsibilities in a clear manner. Introduce the project plan, key target dates, and next steps.

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Meet Weekly with the Project Team to Track Status, Review Project Changes and Resolve Issues
Use the Info-Tech Project Team Meeting Agenda Template.

' to:

Acknowledge success. Resolve issues. Communicate plan changes, risks, and upcoming activities. Motivate team members to meet their dates.

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Update the Plan to Accurately Reflect Current Status and Timelines

Use the Info-Tech Project Planning and Monitoring Tool to:

Update resource availability and assess the impact. Rearrange activities to manage risk and account for changes to resourcing.

Generate accurate and easy-to-read visual In the Trackit example, Gary has reports.
been pulled to resolve network issues. His backup, Deb, takes over his tasks, and dates are adjusted to reflect her availability.
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Publish Meeting Summaries to Document Decisions and Inform Management of Project Status
Use the Info-Tech Project Meeting Follow-Up Template to:

Document action items to promote accountability and further motivate team members to meet target dates. Inform management of project changes, risks, and timelines.

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Create a Milestones Report to Supplement Status Updates to Management

Use the Info-Tech Project Milestones Report Template to:

Highlight key targets, and document whether the project is on track. Provide a quick visual summary of the project status with a Gantt chart automatically generated by the Info-Tech, Project Planning and Monitoring Tool .

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Insights: Project Myths

Be Realistic in Managing Projects
Project Tasks Progress Reporting Task Estimating The Myth Team members will report progress accurately. The Reality Deliverables are the only good evidence of completed activities.

Padding task timelines Resources typically use up all will allow for delays and the time given to them, keep the project on track. leaving no contingency time for unforeseen issues. Better to set aggressive dates and save contingency time for the end of the project. Once approved, the plan Stuff happens. Estimating should not be changed. errors, late resources, rework. Plans must adapt to reality. Getting management sign-off eliminates later changes. Pressure to change specifications continues, especially during testing.
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Plan Approval

Specification Approval

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Review the Project Upon Completion to Evaluate Success and Document Lessons Learned for Future Projects
Hold a Project Closure meeting to assess the following:
Did the project meet the success criteria in terms of functionality, timing, and costs? Are the stakeholders satisfied with the project outcomes? If not, is this due to incomplete success criteria, or did the stakeholders change their minds about what they really needed? What issues were encountered and how were they resolved? Were resource availability estimates accurate?

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Conclusion
Project management essentials specific success criteria, a project manager with strong soft skills, a plan focused on major activities and resource requirements, and actively managing progress are more important to project success than formalized frameworks, certified project managers, or complex software. Weekly meetings and effective communication are key to tracking progress, detecting and resolving issues, and meeting deadlines. Info-Tech project management tools and templates facilitate successful project planning, monitoring, and communication, all important components of the project management essentials.

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