The Practical Project Manager
by Elizabeth Shortt BMath, PMP®
Tips for Successful Project Management
TIP#1: Have a Good Sponsor
Is there a sponsor for the project, are they in a position of influence and authority greater than your own, will they have an active role in the project, can they help you obtain the necessary resources needed for the project?
Having an active sponsor can greatly increase the chances of project success. These guys (and gals) tend to be overworked, but, if they aren’t visible for your project right from the start, then you’re going to have an uphill battle. Without sponsor help, you’ll find people constantly resistant to new ideas and solutions, people trying to sabotage your project, unavailability of business experts, and issues will just float and never get resolved. Not good.
TIP#2: Understand the Reason for the Project
If you know why the project exists, then you will be able to:
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map the work correctly, to scope (no more, no less) and keep those involved focused;
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make those tough tradeoffs all project managers take in order to keep the project on schedule, budget and scope; and
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correctly identify the costs of the project to the benefits it will produce.
TIP#3: Identify the True Cost of the Project
What is the real cost to the organization for this project? We know how much to ask for in order to get the project installed, but, what will its true cost be over time? Is this project really a good investment? Until you’ve mapped out the entire project costs, the organization will never really know if this is a sound investment.
Total cost would be broken out into one-time costs (over years) and then on-going costs (again, over years). The on-going would include such things as:
- Labor to support the application;
- Yearly licensing costs;
- Expected hardware/operating system upgrades over time to support the application;
- etc.
Project management tools and techniques are fast becoming the standard approach to accomplishing corporate business objectives and generating business results. In this humorous book about project management, Elizabeth will introduce you to project management processes in an easy to understand format, and provide tools and methods that will set you on your way to becoming the Practical Project Manager.